President Trump recently ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. But what does that mean? Thousands of local broadcast stations across the US rely on CPB funding and public media serves wide swaths of the country that would otherwise be known as news deserts as the CEO of the National Federation for Community Broadcasters Rima Dael advocates for stations across the country.
“Well, it is important to know, first and foremost, that Congress established in 1967 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in response to Congress, recognizing that the airwaves for radio and TV should belong to the public as a public good. Where residents and citizens of all our communities should have access to fact-based news, information, and educational programming.
So Congress established the corporation for public broadcasting to protect this public good. And Congress wanted to also make sure that this public good existed outside the political influences of either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party and established a way then to forward fund the budget of the corporation for public broadcasting every two years. And so that money from Congress then goes to the US Treasury. And the US Treasury holds that money.”
If lawmakers approve the call to end the funding, then the public media budget would be immediately slashed through the end of 2027, clawing back those funds in reserve. KDNK is one of those rural stations for which CPB funding is especially crucial this year.
CPB funding accounts for 27% of the KDNK budget or $174,000. That's roughly twice the station's goal for listener support in the recent on-air fund drive, KDNK is just one of 246 NPR members. Operating more than 1,000 radio stations, they receive on average 8% to 10% of their funds from CPB according to NPR. Some of those funds go back to NPR as member dues.
Many more stations that are not NPR members rely on CPB funding to fulfill their mission, to provide local news and information and relay emergency communications to their constituents. The CPB is already suing the Trump administration over his executive order seeking to fire three of its five board members.
The PBS chief has called the more recent executive order to stop funding. Blatantly unlawful. Stay tuned as KDNK continues to follow developments in federal attacks on non-commercial journalism.
