GOP Grill PBS, while NPR Democrats come to defense
PBS and NPR testified to Congress. Republicans pressed on partisanship, while Democrats focused on the interests of the American people.
- Congress is weighing legislation that will enact a series of cuts to already approved funding, including $1.1 billion in public media.
- In the case of PBS, local stations may see the biggest impact, especially in rural areas.
- In rural Kansas, federal funding accounts for half of Smokey Hills PBS’s budget.
- The station’s general manager says the money will help staff pay and cover the costs of operating the station’s four transmitters.
Judy Blackburn estimates that she spends at least three hours a day looking at PBS on average.
The 89-year-old lives alone in Cortland, Kansas. Kansas is a city with less than 300 people, about 15 miles south of the Nebraska border in the north-central region of the state.
For Blackburn, afternoons can be “a little longer.” Blackburn admits to spending time watching “too much TV.”
But she says that everything from PBS programming – “Antique Roadshow” and cooking shows to Elton John and the Beatles programs brings her comfort and joy.
Shelley Mahin also lives in Cortland. She said PBS’s “good, clean, healthy” content is important for the domestic daycare she’s been running for 35 years. The number of segments on “Sesame Street” day and the letter-like programming has become a big part of their daily lives, she said.
She appreciates that seeing PBS doesn’t mean you need to worry about what your child will be exposed to. Without such a show, she said she would have to do more reviews for the quality and appropriateness of the content on other channels and platforms.
It’s all at risk this week as Congress weighs the legislation that enacts a series of cuts to already approved funding, including $1.1 billion from corporations for public broadcasting, known as this week’s withdrawal bill.
Both Blackburn and Mahin watch Smokey Hills PBS, based in a city of about 100 people in Bunker Hill, Kansas. The loss of federal funds, which make up about half of the budget, has been devastating for television stations, with more than 1.2 million Kangsan, reaching 71 counties, told USA Today to station employees and board members.
President Donald Trump’s May 1 executive order called on public broadcasters to “suspend direct funding” from NPR and PBS. The order argued that neither outlet “provides a fair, accurate or impartial portrayal of current events for tax-paying citizens.”
Many Republicans have expressed similar sentiments. However, some of the GOP are concerned about the impact on rural areas.
Sen. Mike Rounds of R-South Dakota said on July 15 that Senate leaders will vote in favor of the cuts after they signed a contract with the Office of Management and Budget to protect the funds of tribal radio stations. He previously said he disagreed with a package that allows Native American radio stations to “get caught up in a crossfire.”
Others, including R-Alaska’s Officer Lisa Murkowski and R-Maine’s Susan Collins, have opposed the cuts on similar concerns. Among their debates is that the lion’s share of federal funding is directed towards local stations that broadcast local, regional and national emergency alerts, in addition to providing news and other programming.
Public media advocates say these are local stations, especially rural stations like Smokey Hills PBS. Aside from potential job losses, they also say it means less information distributed to a population that doesn’t belong to, less compensation for popular local events such as high school wrestling, and less attention to daily life in rural America.
Ultimately, the fate of PBS and its affiliates is in the hands of Congress, with a deadline to vote for the July 18 withdrawal package. If they do not, the funds will be spread out to the recipients as planned.
PBS is fighting to maintain its funds. More than 3 million people use my public media platform to contact Congress and contact Congress, according to Stacey Karp, a spokesman for the American public television station.
Participation in this type of campaign “has very meaningful,” PBS President Paula Kerger told USA Today. However, encouragement appeared in the form of a graduation card sent to PBS by students who grew up in network programming and students who grew up in PBS, and a student who was wearing PBS products in public, with support from Passersby.
Among the confused PBS and its affiliate stations, it was “silver lining.”
“The scary choices you have to make”
As Cut passes Congress, Smokey Hills PBS has a lot of difficult decisions, according to general manager Betsy Schwien.
The station is not using federal funds to purchase PBS programming, she said. Rather, it helps to cover the costs of operating the four transmitters of a station, such as payroll or local programming of the station.
Stations should weigh the benefits of each cost and determine what to prioritize in the bare bone budget.
“Do you keep national children’s programming with the historic name “Sesame Street” or “Daniel Tiger”? Schwien said. “What you have to make is a scary choice.”
Kyle Stringham, vice-chairman of the station’s board of directors, lives in Ulysses, Kansas. This is a town with less than 6,000 people.
“We’re not just in the country,” he said. “We are isolated.”
These areas may not have the same access to services such as broadband internet or mobile phone coverage. According to a 2023 Kansas University survey, up to 1 million Kansan lives in areas that do not have “fast broadband services at reasonable speeds.”
By combining such factors with high rates of poverty in rural Kansas, Smokey Hills PBS offers opportunities and challenges to serve the area’s underprivileged communities, he said. There are classic programming like “Sesame Street” and “Arthur,” but there are also events such as the “Share Story” program, which takes place in more than 80 libraries across the state.
Among the most viewed local programming is high school wrestling, the Helen Hand Committee said. The station also broadcasts other youth sporting events.
And considering the location at the heart of Kansas Sweet Country, the station has a focus on agriculture and agriculture.
There is also the “Doctors on Call” program, a live call-in show with local doctors. The hand said it could become a lifeline for rural Kansans who may have to travel long distances to more populated cities like Wichita and Salina to seek medical care.
Since 2010, there have been six hospital closures in rural Kansas, according to data from the National Rural Health Association.
“Being able to learn something about how you feel on TV is more important in rural areas than in, say, Washington, DC,” she said.
Stringham also said it provides a platform where local programming is likely not to be replaced by rural Kansans (educators, artists, student-athletes, etc.).
“If we didn’t have it, we’d feel a bit forgotten,” he said.
“We don’t want to see people leaving the Kansas countryside.”
The board of directors in June provided “very eye-opening” insight into the difficult decisions that will be made if the station loses half its revenue, board member Nick Lebendowski said.
In addition to the potential losses of “good, decent and healthy” programming, the potential contribution to “rural brain drain” refers to the phenomenon of individuals, particularly young Americans, chasing rural homes in big cities and other opportunities.
Station employees tend to have specialized skillsets such as production and video shoots, which do not have many matching opportunities in the area. He said he is sure they have to leave the area if they want to continue doing the same job.
“I don’t want to see people leaving Kansas or rural America for any reason,” he said. “We need it here.”
He understands his interest in reducing the number of taxpayer-funded programs and organizations across the country, but he added that public broadcasting provides valuable services to the community just as much as law enforcement and libraries.
“I just have my arms crossed about it and hope that those who disagree with it realize there’s value there. That’s important. It’s important for a lot of people,” he said.
How Stations can compensate for lost revenue
According to Randall Weller, the station’s longest-serving board member since 1989, the station had tough budget and revenue challenges before the current withdrawal package came into being.
For the fiscal year ending June 2024, the station’s revenues were approximately $5 million, according to a non-profit tax statement.
He said that pledge drive on television was once a “great way to get membership,” but it’s a thing of the past. Another challenge is financially supporting public media for young people, the majority of whom rely on streaming services.
Adding nearly 50% revenue to existing challenges will be a “uphill” for the station to survive, he said.
Weller is working to tell supporters how “catastrophic” the scenario is, in hopes that more people will reach out to Congress in support of public media.
There will be time to see if his efforts are sufficient. If the worst happens, the station has no choice but to pivot.
“We’ll have to be creative or knock on the door,” he said. “I can’t see anything in the meantime.”
Brieanna Frank is USA Today’s first revised reporting fellow. Contact her at bjfrank@usatoday.com.
Reports on the First Amendment issue for USA Today are funded through collaborations between the Freedom Forum and Journalism fundraising partners. Funders do not provide editor input.
