NPR and PBS Stations Brace for Funding Battle Under Trump
Source: New York Times
Dec. 27, 2024, 10:26 a.m. ET
Elon Musk is gunning for public media. In his new role advising President-elect Donald J. Trump, Mr. Musk has floated sweeping cuts to the federal government, including the elimination of entire departments and the firing of agency leaders. One of the most concrete proposals on his list is eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding that the government funnels to PBS and NPR stations, home to cultural touchstones like Elmo, Big Bird and “Fresh Air.”
For decades, NPR and PBS have overcome similar threats. But this year, “the attention and intensity” of the calls to defund public media seem greater, said Michael Isip, the president and chief executive of KQED, which operates NPR and PBS stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. NPR and PBS stations are bracing for the fight. After the election, leaders of NPR’s biggest member stations circulated a report that warned “it would be unwise to assume that events will play out as they have in the past,” with regard to their federal funding.
PBS received an update on the situation from political consultants at a board meeting in early December. And station directors in some states are already making their case to legislators. Internally, NPR is preparing for a variety of funding possibilities, including that government money will be clawed back immediately, according to two people briefed on the network’s planning.
While many Americans know NPR and PBS by popular programs like “Sesame Street” and “All Things Considered,” those national organizations are merely the most visible part of a network of local stations crisscrossing the United States — a network that depends on public funding for local news, educational programming and emergency alerts. More than 98 percent of the U.S. population lives within listening range of at least one of the more than 1,000 public radio stations that carry NPR programming, and many stations use government funding to buy shows and pay for their newsrooms.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/business/media/npr-pbs-funding-trump-musk.html
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It was authorized by law as they provide a valuable service for the nation, and the funding would be to supplement (and subsidize) the cost of carrying the "public service" programming.
E.g., during Watergate, PBS stations and public radio (NPR stations) broadcast those congressional hearings and of course during the 2 45 Impeachments and the J6 hearings, PBS broadcast (and streamed) them live.
"PBS NEWSHOUR"
They are available when the OTA broadcast networks refuse to cut away from their sports or entertainment programming to cover government-related programs and the public stations don't require any consumer subscription to watch, while cable broadcasts of that programming would have a cost to have access to that programming.
NPR, PBS and Wikipedia. Next, it's going to be all public libraries!
He is trying to change reality for the whole world!
He wants to dumb us all down all at once!
The man is fucking bonkers!!!
Life has become a science fiction book that won't end! 
"This Old House", "The French Chef" (with Julia Child), MacNeil/Lehrer Report, and Wall $treet Week (with Louis Rukeyser & his dad, who would make an occasional appearance) on PBS back in the day - before HGTV, Food Network, and obviously YouTube. 
Agree about the TV watching - I haven't watched much on TV at all (finally forced myself away to watch "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" (the sequel of the original "Beetlejuice" ) yesterday, which I did want to see. Want to drag myself away to watch "Twisters" too (missed it in the theaters - when I was finally ready to go, it had already left the theater near me 
).
