Trump administration seeks to defund public broadcasters

They are accused of using taxpayer money to peddle 'radical, woke propaganda'

- Bhagyashree Garekar

WASHINGTON - To some, they are as American as apple pie, having shaped public discourse and education since the 1970s.

But the Trump administration sees public broadcasters National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) as biased institutions that use taxpayer money to peddle "radical, woke propaganda" disguised as news.

The administration's distrust of the biggest public broadcasters in the US is so acute that it is prepared to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

The White House is expected to submit a formal proposal asking Congress, when it returns from recess on April 28, to cut nearly all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the non-profit organisation that funds NPR and PBS and their network of regional and local stations.

The move would block US$1.1 billion (S$1.44 billion) already appropriated to fund the corporation until the end of fiscal year 2027. The budgeting is done for two years in advance.

Once the proposal lands in Congress, the House and Senate would have 45 days to either vote to cut funding or ignore the proposal and keep government support at the same level.

Supporters say the annual cost of roughly US$1.60 per American taxpayer is worth every penny because the public broadcasters provide free news about local communities, which would otherwise be hard to find.

The networks also air educational shows and emergency alerts like severe weather warnings.

About 1,500 local radio and TV stations make up the US public broadcasting system. They serve large and varied audiences, but their market shares are declining.

The top 20 NPR-affiliated public radio stations had on average a total weekly listenership of about eight million in 2022, down 10 per cent from 2021.

At PBS, the audience for its flagship programme NewsHour was about 900,000 viewers in 2022, down from roughly one million in 2021.