Public Media

The United States spends far less than comparable nations on funding public media. Yet despite the overwhelming trust people of all political stripes place in public media, lawmakers have long threatened to gut the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides essential financial support to NPR and PBS stations across the country.

Meanwhile, community-media stations — noncommercial outlets that aren’t part of NPR and PBS — face their own funding challenges.

We’re fighting to protect and strengthen all forms of public media — and push these outlets to reimagine what they could achieve with more funding and a focus on newsgathering and diverse communities.

Question and Answers

Why is this a racial justice issue?

A: We can’t count on the corporate media to do an adequate job of covering communities of color, but many public-media stations haven’t done much better. Public and community media have the potential to cover stories that mainstream outlets ignore and amplify the voices of those who have been excluded or misrepresented.

What is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting?

A: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) provides essential funding to nearly 1,500 locally owned public radio and TV stations all over the country. The CPB receives an annual allocation of $445 million to underwrite popular programming like Fresh Air, Frontline and the PBS Kids lineup, and to help keep local stations on the air. Despite the modest nature of this investment, lawmakers continually threaten to defund the CPB.

Is public media expensive?

A: People in the United States spend less than $1.50 per person on public broadcasting — which is a fraction of overall federal spending. Lawmakers who claim that we can’t afford to support public media are really trying to undermine diverse and local media voices and programs. If anything, the federal government should be spending more money per person to strengthen public media nationwide.

Explainer

How Community Media Can Fill Local News Gaps

Cutbacks and consolidation have decimated local news coverage — making community media outlets more important than ever.

More Explainers
Insight & Opinion

How an FCC Auction Could Save Journalism

Public-media stations have a historic opportunity to fund the kinds of media people need in New Jersey and beyond.

More Insights & Opinions
Story from the Field

Advocates Rally on Capitol Hill to Save Public Media

We teamed up with allies to deliver 660,000 petition signatures pushing Congress to stop Trump from defunding public media.

More Stories from the Field