Public Media Should Have Put the Emergency Signal Before the News

Public broadcasters should have marketed themselves as America’s emergency broadcasting system first and the news second. I want their educational and local services preserved. Their appeal for taxpayer support needed to reach people indifferent to national news. Congress has rescinded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s appropriations for fiscal 2026 and 2027,^[1] a combined $1.07 billion.^[2] CPB announced on August 1 that it would wind down, with most staff positions ending September 30.^[3]

NPR and its member stations chose a shared national identity. NPR chief executive Katherine Maher^[4] explained their use of the “NPR Network” name in her March 26 written testimony to Congress. That choice makes sense for selling programs. I fault it as a way to sell the public’s investment in a local transmitter. Pew Research Center’s March survey of 9,482 U.S. adults found that 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents wanted federal funding for NPR and PBS ended, 19% wanted it continued and 37% were unsure.^[5] Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, 69% favored continued funding. In the same survey, 9% of Republicans and leaners said they regularly got news from NPR, against 32% of Democrats and leaners. But “not sure” is not a demand to close a station. It is an opening to explain what the transmitter does.

CPB’s fiscal 2025 operating budget set aside $351 million of $545 million, roughly 64%, for direct TV and radio station grants.^[6] The total includes $10 million in estimated interest and excludes prior-year carryforwards. The rest went into budget lines for programming, System Support and CPB Administration. These are planned allocations; many stations subsequently pay NPR or PBS membership or programming fees.^[7][8] Local grants and national programs were financially connected. CPB also made a concrete public-safety case: its April emergency-equipment grant announcement included backup capacity for South Dakota’s radio network.^[9] That work deserves credit. It also suggests a more defensible request: fund the demonstrated public service rather than ask it to justify every existing budget line.

Allocation of CPB's fiscal 2025 budget, $ millions

During the July 16 Senate debate, Sen. Eric Schmitt argued that local stations could turn to donations, corporate sponsorships and state support.^[2] For programming that can survive on willing customers, that is a reasonable market test. Public money should fill a demonstrated gap. Yet PBS told Congress in March that federal money, about 16% of funding at the average member station, could make up nearly half a rural member station’s budget.^[8] In his March testimony, Alaska Public Media chief executive Ed Ulman^[10] warned that eliminating federal funding could close stations, especially the most rural and remote. He also argued that national programming attracts local support that helps sustain local services. A local rescue has to reckon with that dependence. Congress should require evidence of replacement capacity station by station, rather than assume donors will fill every gap. Public media’s editorial independence does not excuse a failure to win political consent for a subsidy, but withdrawing the subsidy does not establish that the service is replaceable.

Station boards should now ask Congress to preserve emergency communications, education and local reporting where alternatives fall short. Publish what each station delivers and what it costs: alerts relayed, educational hours aired and local reporters employed. Show national programming costs separately. I would put science and practical instruction, from balancing a checkbook to changing a tire, at the center of the educational offer. For politics, give competing arguments on tariffs a moderated evening hour and let the audience judge them. Broader recruitment and independent coverage reviews should serve editorial independence, with neither party holding a veto. Replacing Congress with donors would not eliminate the temptation to please whoever pays. Residents should not have to win an argument about NPR to keep a working backup signal.