A look at the Trump administration’s efforts to slash public media funding

NOTE: If you are short on time, watch the video and complete this See, Think, Wonder activity: What did you notice? What did the story make you think about? What would you want to learn more about?

SUMMARY

The Trump administration wants to cut the federal funds that support public media. It would impact NPR, PBS and the roughly 1,500 local public media stations across the country. The White House drafted a memo that could make those cuts happen soon. William Brangham reports.

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KEY TERMS

rescission — a provision of law that allows the president to cancel funding previously provided to federal agencies in budgets passed by Congress

WARM-UP QUESTIONS

1. Who would be affected by funding cuts to public media?
2. What is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)?
3. When would budget cuts go into effect if approved?
4. How would these cuts affect small, rural public media stations?
5. Why does the Trump administration want to cut funding to the CPB?

FOCUS QUESTIONS

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget and major author of Project 2025, claims that PBS and NPR have been giving Americans “leftist news for decades and cultural indoctrination for the last four or five years.” However, in surveys of public media and in independent analyses of media bias, PBS and NPR have consistently been rated some of the most trustworthy and reliable news sources in America.

1. Why do you think the Trump administration wants to cut funding to public media?
2. Why do you think there is a gap between Vought’s description of PBS and NPR and public opinion polling?

Media literacy: Does your city have a local public media news or radio station? If so, how much of their programming is produced locally by the station, and how much is national and produced by other stations? Who else produces news or programs about your local community?

WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO

To better understand the complaints of some Republicans about NPR and PBS, watch this segment:

To learn more about the history of public media in the U.S., watch the video below.

1. How did the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) come to be?
2. What were some of the first programs featured on public media?
3. Why have Republicans historically sought to cut funding for public media?

Written by Gianfranco Beran, PBS News Hour Classroom’s production assistant, and News Hour’s Luke Gerwe.

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