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Axios
18-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
NPR and PBS affiliate WHYY faces future without federal funding
Philadelphia's public media affiliate WHYY is planning for a future without federal funding. The big picture: The U.S. House voted early Friday to give final approval to legislation clawing back $9 billion in federal funding for the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio and foreign aid programs. Zoom in: WHYY is not expected to cut programming or staff in the wake of any federal funding loss, WHYY CEO Bill Marrazzo tells Axios. Yes, but: The outlet could see higher costs acquiring content, or declining revenues from licensing its shows to other stations that are also facing cutbacks. What they're saying: Marrazzo says WHYY has worked to "build a strong financial and market position to weather disruptions." "We have grown our audiences across all our platforms and, with it, our contributed income from growth in voluntary contributions of support," he says. How it works: The GOP's rescissions package takes back money that has already been appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the president. By the numbers: WHYY received 7% of its budget from federal funding in 2024, or roughly $3.8 million. Meanwhile, member contributions account for the outlet's largest share of revenue (44%). State of play: WHYY — which serves about 3 million households spanning Philly and its Pennsylvania suburbs, Delaware and most of New Jersey — has seen membership growth amid consistent declines in federal funding in recent years. The outlet's membership base rose 7% over the past year and now stands at 139,000. Zoom out: The federal cuts could have dire effects on other public stations across Pennsylvania:
RTÉ News
18-07-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
US federal Govt gets approval from Congress to cut funding for public media organisations NPR and PBS
Congress in the United States has approved cuts to public media outlets leaving non-partisan stations such as Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio at a loss of funding of up to $1.1bn (€946m). US politicians voted 216 to 213 for the so-called rescissions package, which was sent to Congress at the request of US President Donald J Trump.. The move will leave the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity set up by Congress to distribute funds to public media outlets, with zeroed out federal funding for the first time since it was formed in 1967. The rescinded money had already been allocated by Congress for the next two fiscal years, starting on April 1. The president and CEO of NPR Katherine Maher has said that the funding cuts were "an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will." "Despite promises from some members of Congress to fix anything the bill breaks, this will be an irreversible loss," she said. "If a station doesn't survive this sudden turn by Congress, a vital stitch in our American fabric will be gone for good." She said that "with support from listeners and readers in communities around the nation," they "will work to rebuild." Public media advocates have been lobbying politicians in congress in recent weeks to keep the funding, pointing to the unique mandate of the non-commercial outlets to provide educational, cultural and local programming, among other content. But the US Presidenr has targeted PBS and NPR, and their news programming in particular, as biased toward the left. That has long been a common complaint on the right, but the US President threatened to withhold support or endorsements from any politicians who did not support the package.
Boston Globe
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Here's what's in the Republican bill cutting $9 billion from public broadcasting and foreign aid
Here's a closer look at what's in the bill: Advertisement Public media on the chopping block Trump has asked lawmakers to rescind nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount it's due to receive during the next two budget years. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. The corporation distributes more than 70% of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming. The potential fallout from the cuts for local pubic media stations has generated concerns on both sides of the political aisle. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he secured a deal from the White House that some funding administered by the Interior Department would be repurposed to subsidize Native American public radio stations in about a dozen states. Advertisement But many lawmakers say that won't help a large number of local broadcasting stations. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., unsuccessfully sought to take out the public broadcasting cuts. 'If we don't adopt this amendment, local television and radio stations will shut down and it will be rural stations that will be the first to close,' Baldwin said. To justify the spending cuts, the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have cited certain activities they disagree with to portray a wide range of a program's funding as wasteful. In recent testimony, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought criticized programming aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. He said NPR aired a 2022 program entitled 'What 'Queer Ducks' can teach teenagers about sexuality in the animal kingdom.' He also cited a special town hall that CNN held in 2020 with 'Sesame Street' about combatting racism. Targeting humanitarian aid As part of the package, Trump asked lawmakers to rescind about $8.3 billion in foreign aid programs that aim to fight famine and disease and promote global stability. A Senate amendment knocked the foreign aid cuts down to about $7.9 billion when Republicans agreed to remove what would have been a $400 million cut to PEPFAR, the politically popular program that began under President George W. Bush to combat HIV/AIDS. The program is credited with saving millions of lives. Among the targets: — $500 million of the $4 billion appropriated for global health programs funding actives to combat infectious diseases and promote maternal health. — $800 million for a program that provides emergency shelter, water and sanitation and family reunification for those forced to flee their own country. Advertisement — $4.15 billion for two programs designed to boost the economies and democratic institutions in developing and strategically important countries. — $496 million to provide humanitarian assistance such as food, water and health care for countries hit by natural disasters and conflicts. —$361 million for international peacekeeping efforts, which are designed to stabilize conflict zones and protect civilians. The Trump administration also said some cuts, such as eliminating funding for UNICEF, would encourage international organizations to be more efficient and seek contributions from other nations, 'putting American taxpayers first.'
Straits Times
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Bill Moyers, broadcaster and LBJ's White House press secretary, dies at 91
FILE PHOTO: Journalist Bill Moyers delivers the keynote speech at the People for the American Way Foundation's Spirit of Liberty dinner in Beverly Hills September 21, 2004. REUTERS/Fred Prouser FSP/ABP/File Photo Bill Moyers, a key member of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's inner circle who went on to become a guiding force in American journalism during more than 40 years in public television, died on Thursday aged 91. Moyers, who announced he was "signing off" from internet journalism in December 2017, three years after retiring from the PBS airwaves, died of complications from prostate cancer at a Manhattan hospital, the Washington Post and New York Times reported, citing his son, William Cope Moyers. His death was confirmed to Reuters in a statement from Paula Kerger, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, who saluted Moyers as a "true giant of public media." "Not only was Bill a journalist of the highest caliber, he played an essential role in the creation of PBS as a trusted aide to President Johnson," Kerger said. At a time when critics said broadcast news was becoming fluffier and shallower, Moyers pursued a thoughtful, in-depth approach, bringing an intellectual perspective delivered in a soothing Texas drawl. He took an activist approach to the job, and The Nation magazine called him a "radical presence" in broadcast news, which his critics said was proof that the Public Broadcasting Service network should not get federal funding. Starting in 1971, Moyers regularly hosted a succession of news and commentary shows on public television, including "Bill Moyers' Journal," "Now With Bill Moyers," "Moyers on America" and "Moyers and Company," as well as limited-run series on the U.S. Constitution, faith and mythology. Among the other topics he explored at length on his programs were poverty, racism, money in politics, climate change, income inequality, the shortcomings of the media and what he called the "pirates and predators of Wall Street." "He used the tools of the documentarian to wield a velvet sledgehammer, bludgeoning corporate polluters and government ne'er-do-wells with precision and grace," New York Times media columnist David Carr wrote in 2004. Billy Don Moyers was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1934, and grew up mostly in Marshall, Texas. A dutiful, energetic overachiever, he dedicated himself to school, church and work, including a job at the local newspaper. His early adult life would be a tug of war between the pulpit, the press and politics. He was attending North Texas State College when he first went to Washington in 1954 as a summer intern in the office of then-Senate Minority Leader Lyndon Johnson. When he returned to school, transferring to the University of Texas, he worked on the student newspaper, and Johnson made sure he had a job at the Austin television station owned by his wife, "Lady Bird" Johnson. He also pursued a career in the clergy, becoming ordained as a Baptist minister in 1954 and earning a master of divinity degree at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959. 'YOUNG MAN IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING' Johnson's legendary powers of persuasion eventually prevailed and Moyers became an aide during Johnson's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination against John F. Kennedy in 1960. After the election, Kennedy chose Moyers to be assistant director of his newly established Peace Corps. After Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Johnson became president, Moyers moved to the White House. He was only 30 years old but became one of the most important people in Washington - a duty-bound, deal-making extension of his boss. He served as Johnson's press secretary, adviser, speech writer and congressional go-between. In 1965, he appeared on the covers of Newsweek and Time, which called him "LBJ's Young Man in Charge of Everything." Moyers was a driving force in forging Johnson's Great Society legislation - laws and programs that included the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the "war on poverty," Medicaid and Medicare, conservation and aid to education. "He taught me so much about politics and about what's possible, about human behavior, about the consequences of decisions," Moyers said of Johnson in a 1989 Texas Monthly interview. "At the same time, he was a driven man, a man who could consume you." Critics said Moyers sometimes got his hands dirty on Johnson's behalf. He was known to leak stories and plant questions with the press corps in advance of news conferences. The Washington Post reported that he ordered the FBI to search for gay people in the administration, and CBS correspondent Morley Safer said in his autobiography that Moyers also had a role in the FBI's bugging of civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Moyers left Johnson's service in 1967 - partly because he no longer believed in his boss's war in Vietnam - to become publisher of Newsday, a Long Island, New York daily. The newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership, but he left in 1970 after the publisher deemed him too liberal. Moyers then went on a bus ride around the country that he chronicled in the book "Listening to America: A Traveler Rediscovers His Country." He made his move to PBS in 1971 with "Bill Moyers Journal" and in 1986 he and his wife, Judith, started their own production company to make shows for public television stations. Moyers had stints with the major networks - as a correspondent and commentator with CBS in the 1970s, and with NBC and MSNBC in the 1990s - but greatly preferred the freedom and depth that public television offered. The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago called him "one of the few broadcast journalists who might be said to approach the stature" of legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow. Moyers' body of work earned him more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards and three George Polk Awards, among other accolades. He was elected to the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. Moyers and his wife had three children, William Cope, Alice Suzanne, and John Davidson. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
USA Today
30-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
PBS sues Trump over funding cuts
PBS sues Trump over funding cuts PBS said Trump ordered funding cut "because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech." Show Caption Hide Caption President Donald Trump signs order to cut PBS and NPR funding President Donald Trump signed an executive order to stop directly funding PBS and NPR. The White House has accused PBS and NPR of using taxpayer dollars to spread "radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'" PBS said Trump's order "smacks of retaliation for... perceived political slights in news coverage." NEW YORK − PBS sued Donald Trump on Friday over the president's order to cut its federal funding, calling it an unprecedented attack that would "upend public television." In a complaint filed in the Washington, D.C. federal court, PBS, short for Public Broadcasting Service, said Trump's May 1 executive order violated the First Amendment of the Constitution by making the president the "arbiter" of its programming content. The order "makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech," PBS said. "That is blatant viewpoint discrimination." More: NPR sues Trump administration over order to end federal funding PBS also said the order illegally blocks member stations from using federal funds to access PBS programming and services, and "smacks of retaliation for, among other things, perceived political slights in news coverage." More: Can I still tune in to PBS and NPR? What to know after Trump's order to cut funding Earlier this month, the White House accused PBS and NPR, short for National Public Radio, of receiving tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to spread "radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'" PBS and NPR rely partially on government financial support. The order was part of Trump's effort to sanction entities he believes are opposed to his political agenda. More: President Donald Trump signs order to cut funding for 'partisan' PBS and NPR PBS programming has included Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Frontline, and several Ken Burns documentaries including The Civil War.
