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Axios
7 hours ago
- Business
- Axios
Why D.C. public stations may weather federal funding cuts better than others
While D.C.-area public TV and radio stations are facing holes in their budgets after Congress gutted their federal funding, they're likely in a better position to weather the hits compared to others across the country. Why it matters: The $1.1 billion in cuts to Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding will hit PBS and NPR local member stations the hardest. These outlets are essential for gathering community news and issuing emergency alerts. By the numbers: Some of the DMV's public stations see higher shares of funding from CPB grants than the national average — about 10.3% for U.S. public TV stations as of fiscal 2023, and 4.1% for radio stations. This is based on data manually collected from station websites and shared with Axios by Alex Curley, a former NPR staffer who has been tracking public media financing on his blog, Semipublic. Zoom in: 20.7% of funding for WHUT (aka Howard University Television) comes from CPB grants. Yes, but: Some area stations like WETA and WAMU have said they are prepared to withstand the loss, due in part to the help of listener donations. Caveat: Curley's dataset is extensive, but incomplete. Between the lines: Public media stations in relatively populous, high-income cities like D.C. tend to have better access to donors. Rural stations tend to be more reliant on federal dollars, and are therefore more at risk. Zoom out: D.C. also has a higher share of local journalists compared to the nation at large.
Axios
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Axios
Atlanta public media outlets turn to listeners as CPB funding disappears
Atlanta public media stations big and small are asking listeners to fill budget holes after Congress rescinded $1.1 billion in Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding. Why it matters: Public media outlets serve essential community newsgathering and emergency roles, but the Trump administration and others on the right have long accused them of left-leaning bias Driving the news: WABE, Georgia Public Broadcasting and WCLK are among the public TV and radio outlets nationwide that use CPB funding to serve their communities, based on publicly available financial data collected by a former NPR staffer and shared with Axios. CPB grants made up about 10% of GPB's overall funding as of fiscal 2023, and roughly 3% of WABE's. How it works: That's based on data manually collected from station websites by Alex Curley, a former NPR staffer who has been tracking public media financing on his blog, Semipublic. Caveat: Public media stations can also receive other forms of federal grants, plus corporate sponsorships and donations from (ahem) viewers like you. Yes, but: "CPB grants make up the majority of federal funding for most public media entities," Curley wrote. Zoom in: WABE CEO Jennifer Dorian told the Georgia Recorder that the station raised half a million dollars during this past week's emergency funding drive to help fill a $1.9 million shortfall. That deficit is roughly 13% of the station's budget. GPB, which expected to receive more than $4.2 million, told Georgia Recorder the station had "conducted careful scenario planning in preparation for multiple outcomes." The intrigue: Public radio stations that only play music, like Clark Atlanta University's Jazz 91.9 WCLK, were not spared. For the first time, the station is seeking grants from charitable foundations, according to the AJC. What they're saying: "There have been cries to defund CPB for years, but I never thought it would happen," Wendy S. Williams, who's worked as the station's general manager since 1994, told the news outlet. "We've got to regroup and find ways to recoup the money on top of our regular fundraising initiatives." The big picture: Losing federal funding also means not having to worry about federal funding, Dorian said.
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First Post
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
'Saiyaara': Ahaan Panday, Mohit Suri, Aneet Padda celebrate film's success in Singapore, actress refuses to pose for paparazzi at Mumbai airport- Watch
The team deserves to celebrate the blockbuster success and how! But not in India, they have flown all the way to Singapore as per reports to party and let their hair down read more Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda starrer Saiyaara, which has turned out to be a phenomenon at the Indian box office, has even surprised fans and experts with its blockbuster response in the international circuits. It has turned out to be the highest grosser of 2025 for Bollywood in Nepal with 6.62 Crore NPR gross (4.14 CR INR), beating Housefull 5 — 4.92 crore (3.1 cr INR), Sitare Zameen Par — 3.22 crore (2 cr INR) and even Chhaava — 2.20 crore (1.4 cr INR). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The team deserves to celebrate the blockbuster success and how! But not in India, they have flown all the way to Singapore as per reports to party and let their hair down. Padda was feeling shy and refused to pose for the paparazzi at the Mumbai airport. It is quite heartening to see a film featuring faces surpassing the business of franchise and big stars in a country due to its emotional storyline and music, which has struck a chord with the audience. \_Saiyaara\_ is still going super strong in Nepal and is expected to rake in more moolah in the coming days. Despite not going all out with the promotions, Saiyaara garnered unprecedented excitement among the cinegoers. Before the release of the movie, director Mohit Suri spoke about it and told Firstpost, 'I've been inside the studio for the last one month. I have no idea. And unlike the past when people travel from one studio to another, this is everything inhouse at YRF. So I haven't really gone out and met the world outside. Normally, when you are working on other films, you go out for the day; for sound, edit, and VFX. It was different different places. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
US placed on rights watchlist over health of its civil society under Trump
A group of global civil society organizations have placed the US on a watchlist for urgent concern over the health of its civic society, alongside Turkey, Serbia, El Salvador, Indonesia and Kenya. On Wednesday, a new report released by the non-profit Civicus placed the US on its watchlist following 'sustained attacks on civic freedoms' across the country, according to the group. Civicus pointed to three major issues including the deployment of military to quell protests, growing restrictions placed on journalists and civil society, as well as the aggressive targeting of anti-war advocates surrounding Palestine. At Civicus, countries are assigned a rating over their civic space conditions. The ratings include 'open', 'narrowed', 'obstructed', 'repressed' and 'closed'. The group has declared the US's civic space as 'narrowed'. According to the group, the 'narrowed' rating is for countries that still allow for individuals and civil society organizations to exercise their rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression but where violations of these rights still take place. 'People can form associations to pursue a wide range of interests, but full enjoyment of this right is impeded by occasional harassment, arrest or assault of people deemed critical of those in power,' the rating description says, adding: 'Protests are conducted peacefully, although authorities sometimes deny permission, citing security concerns, and excessive force, which may include tear gas and rubber bullets, are sometimes used against peaceful demonstrators.' With regard to the media, countries with a 'narrowed' rating allow for media to 'disseminate a wide range of information, although the state undermines complete press freedom either through strict regulation or by exerting political pressure on media owners'. 'The United States appears to be sliding deeper into the quicksands of authoritarianism. Peaceful protests are confronted with military force, critics are treated as criminals, journalists are targeted, and support for civil society and international cooperation have been cut back,' Mandeep Tiwana, Civicus's secretary general, said in a statement. 'Six months into Donald Trump's second term, a bizarre assault on fundamental freedoms and constitutional safeguards has become the new normal,' he added. Pointing to Trump's deployment of marines and national guard troops to California in June in response to the widespread protests against immigration raids, Tiwana said: 'This level of militarisation sets a dangerous precedent. It's a line that democratically elected leaders aren't meant to cross.' Tiwana also pointed to the Trump administration's latest attacks against media networks, including funding restrictions on public broadcast stations including PBS and NPR. 'What they're trying to do is actually defund critical news sources and deny American people the ability to receive truthful non-partisan reporting by pulling their funding,' Tiwana told the Guardian. In its report, Civicus also warned of the growing criminalisation of peaceful advocacy, adding that 'authorities have continued reprisals against activists expressing solidarity with Palestinian rights.' Citing the Trump administration's clampdown on foreign-born student activists including Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk, as well as the sanctioning of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, Tiwana said: 'We are seeing a wide-ranging attack on civic space in the US by the federal and some state governments. Authorities in the US should reverse course from the present undemocratic path by guaranteeing everyone's first amendment right to organise and dissent legitimately.'
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First Post
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
Saiyaara box office: Ahaan Panday-Aneet Padda starrer crushes Vicky Kaushal-Rashmika Mandanna's Chhaava - here's how
Saiyaara is still going super strong in Nepal and is expected to rake in more moolah in the coming days read more Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda starrer Saiyaara, which has turned out to be a phenomenon at the Indian box office, has even surprised fans and experts with its blockbuster response in the international circuits. It has turned out to be the highest grosser of 2025 for Bollywood in Nepal with 6.62 Crore NPR gross (4.14 CR INR), beating Housefull 5 — 4.92 crore (3.1 cr INR), Sitare Zameen Par — 3.22 crore (2 cr INR) and even Chhaava — 2.20 crore (1.4 cr INR). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It is quite heartening to see a film featuring faces surpassing the business of franchise and big stars in a country due to its emotional storyline and music, which has struck a chord with the audience. _Saiyaara_ is still going super strong in Nepal and is expected to rake in more moolah in the coming days. Despite not going all out with the promotions, Saiyaara garnered unprecedented excitement among the cinegoers. Before the release of the movie, director Mohit Suri spoke about it and told Firstpost, 'I've been inside the studio for the last one month. I have no idea. And unlike the past when people travel from one studio to another, this is everything inhouse at YRF. So I haven't really gone out and met the world outside. Normally, when you are working on other films, you go out for the day; for sound, edit, and VFX. It was different different places. And just hearing it now, it does feel it does feel very redeeming and validating because when I started off this film, I was quite discouraged by a lot of senior people saying that nobody would be interested in a young love story. Because at that time, larger-than-life films were being made and I just thought that my voice would be lost there when everyone was shouting. So I just went and tried to make a film which is very different from what others were doing. And to me, the fact that people are appreciating that the difference that it's standing out means a lot.'
