03-05-2025
Trump's anti-media campaign threatens Idaho public TV, radio
Funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting accounts for about 20% of Boise State Public Radio's annual budget.
At Idaho Public Television, it accounts for $2 million, or 17% of its budget.
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to cut public subsidies to PBS and NPR, which would affect Idaho's local affiliates.
Trump's executive order doesn't make it so, as the money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is approved by Congress.
But congressional approval hasn't stopped Trump before, and given the way this Congress has kowtowed and ceded power to the executive branch, it's worth worrying about.
If Congress follows through with Trump's order, the effect likely would be felt most acutely in Idaho's rural communities.
'Public radio and public TV stations all have independent control, and they are located in hundreds of towns across the country, and this would be devastating to lose that support,' Boise State Public Radio general manager Tom Michael told me in a phone interview. 'I think ultimately it would probably reduce support in rural areas.'
Idaho Public Television, for example, reaches 99% of Idaho households and is the state's only free media service that provides programming to every Idaho community, reaching all 44 counties and serving nearly 830,000 unique viewers, with 7.3 million overall views every month.
Boise State Public Radio has 27 transmitter sites all over the state.
Its largest share of audience and members is obviously right here in Boise, but the station has made big investments recently in Salmon, Challis and Stanley to reach as many Idahoans as possible.
'We do that because we have this nonprofit mission of service,' he said. 'The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 points to universal service, so I feel a lot of that would unravel.'
Michael said that beyond the direct CPB grant funding of $600,000 that Boise State Public Radio receives, cuts to shared services with NPR and CPB would mean the impact of cuts could be closer to $1 million.
NPR and PBS get about $500 million in public money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to PBS News. That amounts to $1.60 per person per year.
Michael said he's always planning for contingencies, but for the time being, both Boise State Public Radio and Idaho Public Television are proceeding with plans based on current funding levels.
'At this point we have not experienced any disruptions in funding, and we can't speculate on anything at the federal level,' Jeff Tucker, Idaho Public Television general manager, wrote to me in an email. 'This is a matter for Congress to decide. We need to respect the process.'
Trump's attacks on NPR and PBS News, among the most trusted news sources in the country, is just another tired page from his tired playbook of attacking the media.
Trump said NPR and PBS 'spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.''
This is from an administration that attacked the credibility of a journalist who accurately reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared attack plans on a Signal messaging app chat.
Anytime a journalist reports something that paints Trump in a bad light, regardless of the fact that it's true, he attacks the journalist, which is just a ploy to discredit people who are holding him accountable for his abuses of power and his lies.
Blame the messenger.
It reminds me of a sign I saw at the Boise May Day rally: 'Truth is not fake news.'
Both Boise State Public Radio and Idaho Public Television have pages on their websites that provide the public with more information about what they do and the services they provide.
In addition, Michael encourages listeners to go to to urge Congress to save the public media funding.
'In general, I think the independence of public media is under attack,' Michael said. 'When I think of public media, it serves 99.7% of the country. It's congressionally approved. It's bipartisan, it's widely supported, and it's been around for 50 years.'
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman. You can email him at smcintosh@ or call him at 208-377-6202. Sign up for the free weekly email newsletter The Idaho Way .
