CPB President Patricia de Stacy Harrison tells Congress that President Trump’s proposal to eliminate its funds would most dramatically affect rural and minority communities, eventually forcing some noncommercial television and radio stations to close.
Petitions with more than 660,000 signatures to save CPB funding were presented to Congress Tuesday morning after a rally for parents and kids near the Capitol. The event was sponsored by five advocacy organizations including the progressive hub MoveOn.org, media reformer Free Press and ParentsTogether Action, a family issues nonprofit. PBS is not a co-sponsor.
For now, Oklahomans can still get to Sesame Street, but cuts to state appropriations for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority have meant scaled-back local programming. Further loss of revenue for the service could mean deeper programming cuts or even put the OETA’s reach to rural areas in jeopardy, its executive director warns.
Noncom WYIN Chicago Canceling Newscast
WETA Gets $1M For Culture, History, Public Affairs
Exclusives
Public broadcasting’s federal subsidies were not caught up in the political stalemate that forced closure of the federal government Oct. 1. The U.S. Treasury delivered CPB’s $445 million fiscal 2014 appropriation that same day, as scheduled, while political leaders in Congress and the White House wrangled over tea party Republicans’ push to repeal the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
Paula Kerger said Saturday that a loss of federal dollars “would eliminate public broadcasting in areas I know it’s tremendously used.”
In letters sent Thursday to the chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriations committees, Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Doug Lamborn painted the public broadcasting organization as a relic from a bygone era and said the time has come to let the CPB stand on its own two feet. “Now is the appropriate and necessary time for the government to end taxpayer subsidies for CPB,” they wrote.
South Carolina ETV avoided steep funding cuts last month as the state’s Republican-controlled legislature thwarted Gov. Nikki Haley’s attempt to eliminate two-thirds of state support for the pubcasting network.
WASHINGTON (AP) — PBS anchor Jim Lehrer and public broadcasting leaders from across the country are gathering in Washington to discuss the most serious threats to their federal funding in […]
Most Voters Oppose Ending Pubcast Funding
A PBS-commissioned survey finds Americans across the political spectrum see PBS and public TV stations as highly trusted and an excellent taxpayer value.
Anticipating a floor vote to eliminate funding for public broadcasting next week, the Association for Public Television Stations on Wednesday called for stations to join the first big push to build political support in the House of Representatives.
Gov. Sam Brownback proposed a state budget Thursday that would cease funding Kansas Public Broadcasting, which supports the state’s local public television and radio stations. The move would save $1.6 million.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation that paves the way for the transition of the state-run New Jersey Network into a private independent entity. The governor suspended the planned layoffs of 130 NJN staffers, saying the actions will allow for “New Jersey-focused programming to continue uninterrupted” as a transition is completed.
The co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, created by President Obama in February to help balance the budget, are recommending an end to CPB funding as of 2015. Their report also advises zeroing out the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) and the Agriculture Department’s pubcasting grant program.
