What Trump’s NPR And PBS Cuts Mean To Someone Raised In Rural North Carolina

PRODUCTION – 24 October 2022, Hamburg: The characters Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street, taken in a photo studio on the occasion of Sesame Street’s 50th anniversary. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/picture alliance via Getty Images) dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images On May 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting federal funding for NPR and PBS. The order specifically directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to “cease direct funding to NPR and PBS,” which the President says is consistent with his administration’s policy “to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage.” In addition, the President has directed the CPB Board to decline to provide future funding and to “cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.” The order was no surprise—it was consistent with the President’s March demand on Truth Social that funding for public broadcasting be halted. Back then, he posted: “NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms (Networks!), should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY. Republicans, don’t miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM, both being arms of the Radical Left Democrat Party. JUST SAY NO AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” This is the part where I, as a tax lawyer working as a senior writer for Forbes and living in a big metropolitan area should be neutral and analytical. But here’s the thing: I was a PBS (Public Broadcasting System) kid. Our family, a conservative one living in rural North Carolina, was an NPR (National Public Radio) family. I am absolutely not neutral when it comes to this issue. And that’s exactly why I’m writing about it. About PBS And NPR PBS is a non-profit public broadcasting television network created in 1969. It is not a single entity but is comprised of member stations—there are more than 330 of those in the U.S. today. Those member stations can produce their own content or air programs produced by others. Certain programs are standard across the network, which is why we tend to associate PBS with specific shows. For example, you likely know PBS from shows like “NewsHour” and “Masterpiece” (the series that taught the U.S. to know and love “Downton Abbey”). The original mission of PBS was to provide access to programming, particularly to those in rural areas and those who could not afford to pay for private television channels. I lived in one of those households that relied on PBS. I grew up in rural North Carolina, and resources were limited—we didn’t even have a library in my town when I was younger. Television service was spotty and, if you added channels, expensive, but we got PBS for free. We could typically watch ABC and NBC and if the weather was just right and if my brother held the antenna a certain way, we could occasionally get CBS. But PBS was how folks in my town watched television, especially educational television and the news. Today, according to PBS, 58% of all US television households (over 130 million people) tune into PBS member stations. A hefty 60% of the audience still lives in rural communities. In rural, Native American, and island communities, public broadcasting stations are often the only locally owned and operated media outlets, and how many Americans get their news (you may recall that when I traveled to Alaska to prepare taxes, our arrival was announced by public radio, the primary news source in the villages). NPR was incorporated a year later, in 1970, with 88 original member stations representing non-commercial, educational, and community radio stations across the country. Today, approximately 99% of the U.S. population is within the broadcast listening area of one or more public radio stations. Growing Up With PBS And NPR When I say I was a PBS kid, I mean it. In kindergarten, I would sneak off my nap mat to watch “Sesame Street” with the other class (we alternated because we didn’t have enough mats for both classes). I eventually graduated to reruns of shows like “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, “Electric Company”, and “3-2-1 Contact.” On sick days, I could dream about being a famous artist while watching “The Joy of Painting” or imagine what it would be like to time travel like Doctor Who (the Tom Baker version, of course)—while PBS didn’t officially carry “Doctor Who”, many of its affiliates chose to make episodes available. Wife of US Pres. Mrs. Ronald W. Reagan (R) talking and standing beside Conductor John T. Williams (L) at 100th Anniversary concert of the Boston Pops on South Lawn. (Photo by Dirck Halstead/Getty Images) Getty Images My parents and I spent evenings together watching “Anne of Green Gables”, “All Creatures Great and Small”, Rick Steves travel shows, and Agatha Christie mysteries. We also caught music performances—it’s how my dad introduced us to the Boston Pops and the British Proms. (Many BBC programs made it onto our local affiliate—my mom would go on to become a big fan of “Downton Abbey” and I was a big fan of “Sherlock”). Radio was important, too. We listened to NPR in the car. I grew up hearing episodes of “All Things Considered”, “Car Talk”, and “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” And for years, I would drift off to sleep listening to “A Prairie Home Companion.” The thing is, it was never considered liberal or “woke” programming. To the contrary, my conservative parents preferred the programming to “regular” network and radio programming because they thought it was more age and family appropriate. That perception hasn’t changed: Today, PBS reports that nearly two-thirds of its audience identifies as Republican or Independent (63%). Opposition To Funding That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been opposition—challenges to funding for PBS and NPR aren’t new. There was pushback in Congress on the financing for PBS nearly as early as its beginnings. On May 1, 1969, Fred Rogers, the former host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce Subcommittee on Communications to defend $20 million in federal funding proposed for the then newly formed non-profit CPB. Subcommittee chairman Senator John O. Pastore (D-RI) was initially skeptical, but over the course of about ten minutes, Rogers won him over. In his now famous testimony, Rogers said, “I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, ‘You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are.’ And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health.” By the end of the testimony, Pastore told Rogers, “I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s wonderful. Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars.” Years later, funding again became a talking point, this time in the 2012 Republican presidential debate. When asked what cuts he would make to reduce the deficit, then-GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he would cut unnecessary programs like PBS, explaining, “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird... But I’m not going to—I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That’s number one.” (The team of Romney and Paul Ryan went on to secure the Republican nomination but lost to Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the presidential election.) And while the subsidy Romney referred to in the debates made it sound like taxpayers were wholly supporting Big Bird and the gang at Sesame Street, that’s not the case. Funding PBS is not primarily funded through federal tax dollars—only about 15% of its budget comes from the federal government. It’s largely supported by, well, viewers like you. Almost 60% of funding for public television comes from private donors or grants. Dues paid by member stations provide additional funding. (NPR gets about 1 % of its budget from Congress.) The federal funding that Romney referenced isn’t a direct subsidy to PBS. The funding actually flows to the CPB. CPB was established by Congress before PBS existed, in 1967, after the promotion of public media was noted as “of appropriate and important concern” to the federal government. By statute, the board of CPB is to be bipartisan: three Democrats and three Republicans. To keep it apolitical, the CPB is funded two years in advance. As part of its mission, it supports both PBS and NPR. There’s not much wiggle room with funding. The money that goes to CPB is split according to a mostly statutory formula. That means approximately 95% of CPB’s federal funds go directly to content development, community services, and other local station and system needs and less than 5% is allocated to CPB administrative costs. In recent years, PBS has received about $535 million a year from Congress, or just under $1.60 per U.S. person per year. In Fiscal Year 2024, the U.S. federal government spent $6.9 trillion in the budget. The funding for PBS is less than 1% of the federal budget—way less. It’s about 1/100th of 1%. I’m not disparaging cutting waste: cutting waste is good. By the numbers, however, cutting funding for PBS and NPR won’t save the budget. Not by a long shot. What Comes Next The CPB, PBS, and NPR are all looking at their options—a lawsuit could be in the works to stop defunding. PBS CEO Paula Kerger has referred to the executive order as “blatantly unlawful,” saying, “We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.” NPR’s president and CEO Katherine Maher echoed those statements: “We will challenge this executive order using all means available.” With cuts, public television and radio stations will have to find alternate funding sources. Larger markets, like the one I live in now, would likely survive by relying on donors. But chances are that those smaller markets, like the one I used to live in, may have to shut off the lights. That is, of course, the irony, since those smaller markets are the very ones that PBS was intended to serve when it was created. Forbes Alaskans And Millions Of Other Americans Get Free Tax Help. They Could Soon Be Frozen Out. By Kelly Phillips Erb Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2025/05/07/what-trumps-npr-and-pbs-cuts-mean-to-someone-raised-in-rural-north-carolina/