Public media appeals to audiences for support after Congress cuts off its funding
On Friday, Congress authorized the Trump administration to cut off federal funding to public media in the United States. The passage of the Rescissions Act of 2025 revokes $1.1 billion of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to public media stations across the country.
NPR, PBS, and their local affiliates have been bracing for this outcome for months, with targeted fundraising campaigns, updating viewers and listeners on new developments, and appealing to them for support. Since Friday, several stations have published messages explaining the ramifications to the public.
NPR hasn’t minced words. “This decision is devastating for the millions of people who rely on public media every day,” a pop-up on its website reads. The organization has also inserted a two-minute statement from CEO Katherine Maher in every in-house podcast’s feed, and has been circulating a one-minute video of Maher on social media. The video has nearly half a million likes and 237,000 views on TikTok, for example.
Congress eliminated public media funding. At a time of deep division, public media brings us together.
Help keep it strong. Join our monthly donors today: n.pr/458sOhq
— NPR (@npr.org) July 19, 2025 at 5:48 PM
PBS has similarly been campaigning for public support. The three pinned posts on PBS News’s Instagram and TikTok are all stories about the funding cuts, while the PBS accounts are posting messages of support from public figures like Bill Nye, Ken Burns, and edits from episodes of Arthur.
@arthurpbs♬ I never want to lose this feeling – ArthurPBS
Local stations — from New York City to Indigenous communities — will be the most impacted by the rescission and will likely have to lay off staff, reduce programming, and more. WNYC/Gothamist has been emailing newsletter subscribers about the proposed cuts for weeks, asking them to donate and to contact their elected officials to vote against the proposal. On Friday, the station said it would lose about $6 million over the next two years.
Congress just defunded public media.
Your support is critical to securing the future of public media: bit.ly/4nWz3wf
— Gothamist (@gothamist.com) July 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Radio stations in small towns, rural areas, and tribal communities are crucial, especially during major weather events and emergencies. The National Federation of Community Broadcasters represents 200 community stations in the U.S. and says the defunding of CPB will create public safety issues when people can’t access information.
“Not all Americans live in areas with reliable internet, cable, or cell service,” NFCB said in a statement. “We cannot leave millions without the information they need to stay informed and safe. Federal investment in public media is not a luxury — it is a lifeline.”
The passage of the bill meant that Louisville Public Media would lose $376,000 in funding. It launched an emergency fundraising campaign on Friday and incentivized donors with gifts. Any donor would receive a window cling that says “LPM supporter,” while donors of $2,500 or more could get a bottle of Old Forester Single Barrel Bourbon with a special label that commemorates the station’s 75 years on the air. LPM surpassed its goal by $68,000 on Saturday in a little over 24 hours.
Louisville Public Media has now raised:
$444,000.
In a little more than one day. Dunno, I’m pretty speechless. And I guess I’ll still be employed here for awhile. Can’t thank everybody enough who donated!
— Joe Sonka (@joesonka.lpm.org) July 19, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Grassroots efforts to close the funding gap have sprung up in the time since the bill passed. Protect My Public Media, an action network mobilizing support for public media funding, made a form to help supporters quickly contact their lawmakers in the hope of restoring funding during the appropriations process. Alex Curley, writer of the public media-focused newsletter Semipublic, made a tool called “Adopt A Station” that recommends a station somewhere in the country that is set to lose 50% or more of its revenue for users to “adopt” with a donation.
These cuts don’t exist in a vacuum; public media around the world has experienced funding cuts in recent years. In 2024, Argentina’s president Javier Milei shuttered Télam, calling it a “propaganda agency” for former president Cristina Kirchner. In April, the Dutch government slashed its public broadcaster’s budget by €157 million. In a new report published by Reporters Without Borders today that unpacks the pressures on public media in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin writes that cuts to public media around the world tend to feed off each other: Trump’s attacks on public media are similar to those of politicians in Europe, while European attacks in turn have taken additional inspiration from Trump.
“Public media organizations are subject to political interests and are becoming pawns in a political game,” Bruttin writes. “Reforms to their governance can raise the specter of authoritarianism, and legitimate budgetary constraints in a difficult economy can conceal the politicization and instrumentalization of public funding. The road to hell is often paved with good financial intentions.”