NPR and PBS are in Trump’s crosshairs to lose public funding from the federal government due to Trump’s whims, opinions and “retribution” for saying things he doesn’t like.
Apparently, this isn’t a new threat. Conservatives have been lobbying to defund public TV and radio since the days when Reagan was president.
This time, given Trump’s slew of executive orders, our do-nothing congress and the slight majority of Republicans in all three branches of government, these two organizations are the subject of judicial inquiries, political bashing and threats of defunding (unless they bow down to kiss Trump’s ring, grovel and become echo chambers for whatever he decides is appropriate).
I read that Federal Funding makes up very little of these organizations’ annual budgets. Depending on how you interpret the numbers, NPR receives 1-10% of its annual funding from the Fed and PBS receives 30-35%. In 2025, that totals about $132 million for NPR and $400 million for PBS.
As I watched the screws being put to the CEOs of NPR and PBS in a recent hearing, my thought was that instead of kowtowing they should stick to their values and tell those who are threatening them they can F*** off and keep their money.
What would that mean? It would mean having to shut down some stations, reduce overhead and find alternative sources of funding.
Some people would lose their jobs. Some content and stories would have to be postponed or cancelled entirely.
The thing is, all of those things are going to happen anyway. We’ve seen enough during Trump’s first 60 days to know the funding cuts and demand for staff reductions are coming anyway.
If I were in their positions, I’d rather be the one making those decisions vs. trying to follow a plan of appeasement that will never work.
I hate kissing ass.
I only know of two ways to effectively handle a bully – fight back or walk away.
I’d walk away from the money.
(Side note: Overall, I am a big fan of Public TV and Radio. At times in the past decade, I’ve been disappointed with some of their news content and direction. But Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, Zoom, Schoolhouse Rock, The Joy Of Painting, The Muppets and a few other classics made my life immeasurably better. I would hate to see content like this disappear entirely. I imagine there are millions of people like me who would support quality content like this even if they chose to air on commercial TV and streaming channels.)