It is said that in every crisis, opportunity awaits.
Public media faces an unprecedented and growing threat to funding. The type of cuts now before Congress would choke off essential funds to local broadcast stations around the nation. Top executives of the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other public media enterprises are having to defend their work before federal regulators and lawmakers bent on stripping nearly $600 million in annual funding.
Now, President Trump has signaled he will ask Congress to take back two years' worth of taxpayer funds that had been earmarked for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NPR reports. The total is $1.1 billion, which was intended to be shared by PBS, NPR and other public media enterprises.
After the reports emerged, PBS President Paula Kerger wrote to the staff: “While I am concerned about today’s developments, it only strengthens my resolve to keep our public media system strong. In issuing this request, the Administration is overlooking the deep well of support that exists for public media across the country.”
The outcome of this political struggle is unknown, but one thing’s for sure: our audiences are watching. And true to form, PBS viewers are not holding back. Some are bringing on sharp critiques of our work, but many more have recently sent letters of support to my inbox.
Earlier this month they were watching as Kerger and NPR’s chief executive Katherine Maher sat through a highly charged, overtly political grilling in a House committee room by the “Delivering on Government Efficiency congressional subcommittee,” led by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a steadfast ally of President Trump.
The hearing was an unpleasant spectacle, but the leaders of the two major broadcasters held their own and undermined the hearing’s allegation that public media in the United States is biased to the left and should be barred from taxpayer funding.
Along with opinions about how we fared in the hearing, audience members gave us plenty of advice.
Among them, two strong voices emerged:
Sally Lehrman is a veteran journalist and executive director of The Trust Project, whose mission is to help news organizations and broadcasters more deeply engage with audiences by holding to several actions that ensure transparent and nonpartisan programming (FRONTLINE and other public media entities are members). Subbu Vincent is another veteran journalist and director of Media Ethics for the Markula Center at Santa Clara University in California.
They are two of dozens of audience members in our Public Editor’s focus group. After the hearing, both identified key takeaways and wise counsel – “opportunities,” as Vincent says.
*Trust is currency. While PBS and NPR have much of it, it’s fragile and can be lost without close vigilance.
*And homework is yet to be done to convince viewers and listeners that support for public broadcasting should continue.
The two pointed to missed opportunities during the hearing but also signaled positive next steps they believe can strengthen public media’s hold on the public’s trust.
In two columns, Lehrman and Vincent outline what public media can do to preserve the flow of essential public funding.