Well, well, well, look what we have here, folks! CNN is crying about the possibility of PBS and NPR losing their precious federal funding. Boo hoo! Maybe if they weren’t such mouthpieces for the radical left, they wouldn’t be in this mess.
These “news” outlets are on the verge of losing the taxpayer money that has been propping them up for decades. The Senate is considering a “rescission,” a fancy word for taking back money that Congress already wasted. Nearly $1.1 billion of our hard-earned dollars have been funneled into public media. What a joke! I, for one, am ecstatic. Maybe now these leftist propaganda machines will finally have to answer to the free market.
If lawmakers zero out funding for PBS and NPR, CNN is worried about the impact. Over time, some local stations might be forced off the air, while others may have fewer shows to broadcast. Stations may have fewer resources for news reporting and educational programming. What a load of crock!
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) gets $535 million in taxpayer support annually and spreads it around to about 1,500 local radio and TV stations, as well as programmers and infrastructure providers. President Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to revoke those funds, while Democrats want the funds to remain in place. Of course they do! They need their state-run media to keep brainwashing the masses.
Trump’s rescission proposal targets CPB’s federal funding for the period from October 2025 through September 2027, so if the money is taken back, stations will face budget shortfalls starting this fall. The horror! Some public media executives are already planning layoffs and other cost-cutting moves. Cry me a river!
PBS and NPR affiliates have other sources of revenue, including donations from “viewers like you.” But the federal funding has historically served as the foundation of the proverbial house. Oh no! How will they survive without our money? Maybe they should try being less biased and more appealing to a wider audience.
“For every public dollar provided, stations raise nearly seven dollars from donors, including state and local governments, universities, businesses, foundations and individual viewers and listeners,” according to CPB. So, they can survive without our money. Excellent!
Bigger stations in metro areas will have an easier time making up the deficits than smaller stations. If the Senate adopts the rescission, some big-city public media outlets will launch fundraising campaigns immediately. Good! Let them beg for their survival.
Smaller stations, particularly those in hard-to-reach areas, tend to be more reliant on federal funding. Without that federal support, some broadcasters in rural areas will go dark, according to officials who spoke with CNN. Boo hoo! Maybe they should move to where the money is.
No, but stations will generally have less money to spend on programming, which will hurt the marketplace of noncommercial TV and radio. Oh no! What about “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood?”
Fred Rogers Productions receives millions of dollars per year in grants, including those from CPB, as well as licensing revenue from local PBS stations that carry its programs. If the stations have fewer dollars to spend, then producers will eventually feel the pinch. Poor babies!
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns recently told CBS that “I couldn’t do any of the films I’ve done without them being on PBS.“ Translation: “I can’t survive without taxpayer money!”
Money flows out from CPB to localities, then returns to the national entities through dues and fees from member stations. NPR funds “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” this way. “While federal funding makes up only 1% of NPR’s revenue, member station fees make up a 30% share,” the organization recently explained to listeners. So, they admit they don’t need our money!
The national operations are bracing for the domino effect that would ensue if funding dries up in the fall. Good! Maybe they’ll finally have to report the news fairly.
NPR has made the case to listeners that “elimination of federal funding would ultimately result in fewer programs, less journalism — especially local journalism — and eventually the loss of public radio stations, particularly in rural and economically distressed communities.” More leftist lies!
The current tug-of-war over the public media budget is the culmination of several decades of political battles. Conservative activists have long argued that taxpayer support for TV and radio is simply unnecessary and fiscally unwise. Amen to that!
“Nowhere in the Constitution does it say Congress should fund a national media,” the libertarian Cato Institute says on its website. Exactly! It’s unconstitutional!
Opponents also argue that the public broadcasting model is obsolete in the streaming era. For Trump and some of his strongest supporters, the primary objection to NPR and PBS is perceived bias. The Trump White House has portrayed public broadcasting as “radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news’” and claimed that the news operations exist to help Democrats and hurt Republicans, which the networks deny. Of course they deny it! They’re liars!
Some moderate Republicans have acknowledged that the public media system has value. Sen. Susan Collins called the cuts to CPB “excessive” and said “local TV and radio stations continue to provide important coverage.” Collins said she would support defunding NPR at the national level, however, due to its “biased reporting.” Even RINOs like Collins are starting to see the light!
Congressional Democrats lack the votes to stop the rescission package, but they are vocally defending the public media system. Sen. Maria Cantwell said that zeroing out the PBS and NPR funds is a “reckless endangerment of 13 million Americans who depend on these stations for lifesaving emergency information.” Lifesaving? What a joke!
Sen. Bernie Sanders asserted that Trump wants to defund the networks because, “like all authoritarians,” he “doesn’t like criticism or objective reporting.” Coming from a socialist like Sanders, that’s the highest compliment!
Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democrat on the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission, also linked the pending cut to Trump’s broader campaign against the media. “This isn’t about saving money,” Gomez wrote on X. “It’s about silencing those who report the news accurately, without fear or favor.” Translation: “It’s about silencing the leftist propaganda!”
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
