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The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Not just Big Bird: What to know about the Center for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations, and programs such as Sesame Street and Finding Your Roots, announced Friday it would shut down after the U.S. government removed its funding. The organization told staff most positions will end with the fiscal year on September 30. A small transition team will remain until January. The private nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 after Congress authorized its formation. It now comes to an end after almost six decades of fueling the production of celebrated educational programming, cultural content, and emergency alerts about natural disasters. President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 24, canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting. The White House claims the public media system is politically biased, and an unnecessary expense, and conservatives have particularly directed their anger at NPR and PBS. Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for some local public stations in their state. They warned that some stations will have to close. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday reinforced the policy change by excluding funding for the corporation for the first time in more than 50 years as part of a broader spending bill. How it started Congress passed legislation creating the body in 1967. This came several years after Newton Minow, the then-Federal Communications Commission chair, described commercial television as a 'vast wasteland' and called for programming in the public interest. The corporation doesn't produce programming, and it doesn't own, operate, or control any public broadcasting stations. The corporation, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other, as are local public television and radio stations. Rural stations hit hard Roughly 70 percent of the corporation's money went directly to 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country. The cuts are expected to weigh most heavily on smaller public media outlets away from big cities, and it's likely some won't survive. NPR's president estimated that as many as 80 NPR stations may close in the following year. Mississippi Public Broadcasting has already decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children's programming such as 'Caillou' and 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood' 24 hours a day. Maine 's public media system is looking at a hit of $2.5 million, or about 12 percent of its budget, for the next fiscal year. The state's rural residents rely heavily on public media for weather updates and disaster alerts. In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22 percent from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. From Big Bird to war documentaries 'Sesame Street' initially aired in 1969. Child viewers, adults, and guest stars alike were instantly hooked. Over the decades, characters from Big Bird to Cookie Monster and Elmo have become household favorites. Entertainer Carol Burnett appeared on that inaugural episode. "I would have done anything they wanted me to do,' she said. 'I loved being exposed to all that goodness and humor.' The New York Times reports 'Sesame Street' will survive without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR and PBS get a relatively small portion of their annual budget from the corporation, and children's TV programs are produced independently of those organizations. Still, the NYT reports the cutbacks could affect the availability of those shows, particularly in pockets of the country without widespread access to broadband internet and mobile data. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started the program 'Finding Your Roots' in 2006 under the title 'African American Lives'. He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees back to slavery. When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa. Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed, and the series was renamed 'Faces of America', which had to be changed again after the name was taken. The show is PBS's most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination. Grant money from the nonprofit has also funded lesser-known food, history, music, and other shows created by stations across the country. Documentarian Ken Burns, celebrated for creating the documentaries 'The Civil War', 'Baseball', and 'The Vietnam War', told PBS NewsHour that the corporation accounted for about 20 percent of his films' budgets. He said he would make it up, but projects receiving 50 percent to 75 percent of their funding from the organization won't. The influence of shows Children's programming in the 1960s was made up of shows including 'Captain Kangaroo', 'Romper Room', and the violent skirmishes between 'Tom & Jerry'. 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' mostly taught social skills. PBS also aired programs by 'Monty Python' and broadcast shows such as 'Downton Abbey' and 'The French Chef' with Julia Child. Education professionals and child psychologists designed 'Sesame Street' to help low-income and minority students aged between two and five overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school. Social scientists had long noted that white and higher-income kids were often better prepared. One of the most widely cited studies about the impact of 'Sesame Street' compared households that got access to the show with those who didn't. It found that the children exposed to 'Sesame Street' were 14 percent more likely to be enrolled in the correct grade level for their age at middle and high school. Over the years, 'Finding Your Roots' showed Natalie Morales discovering she's related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean, and former ' Saturday Night Live' star Andy Samberg finding his biological grandmother and grandfather. It revealed that drag queen RuPaul and Senator Cory Booker are cousins, as are actors Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria. 'The two subliminal messages of 'Finding Your Roots', which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we're a nation of immigrants,' said Gates. 'And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we're 99.99 percent the same.'
The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Europe's trade deal with the US was dead on arrival – it needs to be buried. Here's how to do it
Ursula von der Leyen's Turnberry golf course deal has been rightly called a capitulation and a humiliation for Europe. Assuming such an accord would put an end to Donald Trump's coercion and bullying was either naive or the result of a miserable delusion. The EU should now steel itself and reject the terms imposed by Trump. Is this deal really as bad as it sounds? Unfortunately, it is, for at least three reasons. The blow to Europe's international credibility is incalculable in a world that expects the EU to stand up for reciprocity and rules-based trade, to resist Washington's coercion as Canada, China and Brazil have, rather than condoning it. Economically, it's a damaging one-way street: EU exporters lose market access in the US while the EU market is hit by more favoured US competition. Core European industrial sectors such as pharma and steel and aluminium are left by the wayside. The balance also tilts in the US's favour in important sectors such as consumer goods, food and drink, and agriculture. Tariffs tend to stick, so this is long-term damage. The EU even gives up its right to respond to future US pressures through duties on digital services or network fees. To top it off, von der Leyen's defence and investment pledges (for which she had no mandate) go against Europe's interest. The EU's competitiveness predicament is precisely one of net investment outflows. As international capital now reallocates under the pressures of Trumponomics and a weakening dollar, the case for Europe to become a strategic investment power was strengthening. Von der Leyen's promise of $600bn in EU investment in the US is therefore disastrous messaging. How could this happen? All EU member states wanted to avoid Trump's 30% tariff threat and a trade war, but none perhaps as much as Germany and Ireland, supported by German carmakers and US big tech firms. Yet Irish sweetheart digital tax deals, as well as BMW and Mercedes's plans to move production hubs to the US (also to serve the EU market), cannot be Europe's future. EU governments were distinctly unhelpful in building the EU's negotiating position. But in the end, it was von der Leyen who blinked and she has to take responsibility. Her close team took control in the closing weeks and went into the final meeting manifestly prepared only to say yes, which made Trump's steamrolling inevitable. Let's think of the counterfactual: if von der Leyen had stepped into the room and rejected these terms, Trump's wrath and some market turmoil may have ensued. But ultimately it would very likely have come to a postponement, a new negotiation and, at some point, a different deal that would not be so lopsided or unilaterally trade away deep and long-term European interests and principles. Instead, von der Leyen became a supplicant to a triumphant Trump. The situation is reminiscent of the final rounds of the Brexit negotiations five years ago when von der Leyen similarly was giving in to unacceptable demands from Boris Johnson, only to U-turn under pressure from a steelier EU chief negotiator and a quartet of member states. Today, von der Leyen runs Brussels with a strong presidential hand and has largely done away with internal checks and balances inside the commission. That is her prerogative and her style, but the upshot should not be weak, ineffective and unprincipled dealings on Europe's major geopolitical challenges, from Trump to Gaza. The 'deal' in Scotland is in reality an unstable interim accord. Nothing is yet inked or signed; Washington and Brussels are already locking horns on its interpretation and negotiations on the finer (and broader) points are ongoing. The 27 EU governments will inevitably get involved as the final deal needs to be translated into an international agreement and EU law. Some big powers – Germany and Italy seemingly – are on board, reluctant or not. However, internal political dynamics may change their calculations. Opposition parties and rightwing contenders who are a real political threat to leaders in Germany and France are already lambasting the deal. Unless von der Leyen strikes a dirty bargain with the member states, the European parliament will also have a say. The longtime chair of its trade committee, Bernd Lange, has set the tone for how the deal would be viewed there, calling it 'asymmetry set in stone' and even 'a misery'. As details seep out on what von der Leyen has really agreed toand what the US expects from the EU, and all the consequences become clear, an already unpalatable deal may become even more so. Weakening US economic data and returning stock market jitters show that Trump's negotiation footing is fragile. His new tariff threats come with new extensions, up to 90 days in the case of Mexico, as his position is overstretched. For Europe, the lesson from the Brexit negotiations – one that von der Leyen ought to have grasped before now – is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. There is now an opportunity for EU governments and the European parliament to course correct and salvage something from this train wreck. Georg Riekeles is the associate director of the European Policy Centre, and Varg Folkman is policy analyst at the European Policy Centre
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Smithsonian removes references to Trump impeachments at history exhibit
The Smithsonian Institution has scrubbed all mention of Donald Trump's impeachments from a prominent display at the National Museum of American History, temporarily eliminating any acknowledgment of the president's unique status as the only US leader the House impeached twice. The alterations to the presidential power exhibit, first reported by the Washington Post, occurred in July, with museum officials replacing contemporary signage with an older version that excludes Trump's impeachment proceedings entirely. Visitors now see only a generic reference to three presidents facing potential removal from office. Museum representatives confirmed the changes followed an institutional review of exhibition content. 'In reviewing our legacy content recently, it became clear that the 'Limits of Presidential Power' section in The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden exhibition needed to be addressed,' a Smithsonian spokesperson told the Guardian. 'Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance.' The spokesperson pledged that 'a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments,' though they provided no specific timeline for implementation. The move comes as Trump has waged a systematic campaign to reshape federal cultural agencies since returning to power, and issued directives aimed at purging what he categorizes as diversity initiatives and halting new federal appointments. Earlier this year, he signed an executive order directing the elimination of 'anti-American ideology' across Smithsonian museums and promising to 'restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness'. The order specifically targets several Smithsonian facilities for ideological review, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Trump faced impeachment charges twice during his first presidency – initially over allegations he pressured Ukraine to investigate political rivals, then later for his role in the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack. The Senate cleared him on both occasions. That historic distinction has now vanished from the nation's premier history museum, while displays covering Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon's impeachment cases remain untouched. The spokesperson explained that temporary materials addressing Trump's impeachments had been installed in September 2021 as 'a short-term measure to address current events at the time, however, the label remained in place until July 2025'. The Smithsonian operates as a congressional trust with an annual budget exceeding $1bn and attracts millions of visitors annually to its network of museums, making it a key cultural touchstone for public education about American history.
