Public Broadcasting Cuts Would Harm Free Press

Behind the camera at “The Daily Blend,” a local public broadcasting program focused on mid-Missouri and airing on FM radio station KBIA and KMOS-TV. Photo: University of Missouri/Nate Brown via Flickr Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0).

WatchDog Opinion: Public Broadcasting Cuts Would Harm Free Press

By Joseph A. Davis

If the U.S. Congress were to agree to President Donald Trump’s effort to defund public media, it would gravely harm press freedom in the United States.

Trump so far has taken two shots at public media. The first, on May 1, was one of his scores of executive orders. These have little effect unless they apply to an executive agency under his dominion. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a public-private entity created by Congress, is not that. So that was a dud.

The second shot is legislation to defund it, which Trump’s theoretically compliant party in Congress might theoretically support. The problem there is legal: Congress has already appropriated those funds. The amount in question is $1.1 billion, which is meant to cover the next two years.

There is a twist: Since Congress has already committed the funds, they must be “rescinded” to be taken back. Under the Budget Act, that cannot be done with Trump’s Big (Bad) Bill.

Instead, Congress must do it by passing a separate rescission resolution. GOP majorities in Congress are so slim and shaky that passage is far from a given.

 

Financing model a (partial) insulator

The question of “who pays” is key to journalistic integrity. It could be argued that depending on a highly polarized and politicized Congress is not a recipe for fearless independence.

But Congress actually tried to insulate pubcasters from political pressure via funding — in the way it set up the CPB. The money is committed two years ahead for just that reason.

 

One thing that has boosted

pubcasting’s integrity is its

diversity of income sources.

 

And one more thing that has boosted pubcasting’s integrity is its diversity of income sources. Most public stations, radio or TV, exist under a complex, multistranded financing model that insulates them from most political pressure.

Viewers and listeners contribute during those (maddening) fund drives. Companies and foundations provide sponsorships. Host institutions, like universities that often are local licensees, may subsidize their stations, one way or another. Most stations and distributors are tax-exempt as nonprofits. Individual programs get fees for use.

Look at the funding of environmental journalism’s very own Living on Earth (a mix of corporations, foundations and listeners).

 

Public broadcasting’s exemplary journalism

Strong voices have stepped up to defend CPB and pubcasting. Prominent is CPB head Patricia Harrison, who appeared before a hostile House hearing in March. Another is Katherine Maher, CEO of NPR. Also, PBS CEO Paula Kerger.

But right-wingers hate pubcasting because they think it is too liberal. Liberals dismiss it as too conservative. Some may take this as evidence that most pubcasting is balanced. Some even think that “balance” is a good thing. And the screamers think balance is boring.

Despite all that, the WatchDog thinks public media are an example of the kind of journalism that does a pretty good job of telling the truth and serving the public interest.

They exist in a mediasphere that includes the National Enquirer, the New York Post, People magazine, Fox News, weekly shoppers and fake newspapers funded by utilities. That mediasphere also includes the “Unbiased Politics” podcast, the “Ruthless” Podcast and Timcast IRL — all of which have been newly granted access to White House press briefings.

Even we First Amendment absolutists try to keep perspective.

 

Surveys find high levels of public trust

Meanwhile, research and polls show that the public does trust public broadcasting — more than almost any other news source. That’s why pubcasting, more than almost any type of media, has survived to such a great extent on voluntary contributions from its audience.

 

Surveys found that Americans

trust public media more than

they trust almost any other

American institution.

 

Nieman Lab recently published an article with some very startling findings. Surveys found that Americans trust public media more than they trust almost any other American institution (Congress and White House included).

Here’s the kicker: People trusted PBS because it was publicly funded — not despite it.

We can only wonder whether that affects Trump’s motive for trying to defund public media.

 

Defunding as a chilling statement

Trump (arguably) is not a fool. His administration knows that money is one of the most vulnerable soft spots of the U.S. media. Ask any recently laid-off reporter.

The WatchDog is so old that he remembers 2014, when NPR laid off virtually its entire climate and energy team. Environmental journalists of any kind (public media or not) have been vulnerable to such cost-cutting. NPR today, fortunately, has a strong team.

While defunding would be a nonfatal injury, it would also be a serious chilling statement. So write your Congressfolk and let them know that Congress shouldn't zero out the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as Trump has asked.

And while you’re at it, make a pledge to your local stations. With a little more money, public broadcasting could get even better.

[Editor’s Note: Read more about Trump’s broader attacks on press freedom in WatchDog Opinion.]

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

---

* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 24. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.