Corporation for Public Broadcasting Slashed—PBS, NPR, and Emergency Alerts at Risk

Courtesy of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The elimination of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is an act of political vandalism—one that threatens to dismantle a vital American institution. Communities across the country, especially rural ones, will bear the brunt of this short-sighted decision.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. Gutting their funding is going to hurt more than anyone will realize.

Many Americans don’t realize that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting doesn’t produce or distribute content—it supports the infrastructure behind local stations and multiplatform content delivery, without controlling what’s aired.

Unlike in other countries, public media in the U.S. is locally based. What this means is that local stations are the ones who decide how to best serve their communities. CPB, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other and of the local public television and radio stations across the country.

Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate and House approving the rescission package eliminating CPB funding:

“The vote by the U.S. Senate and House to eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will have profound, lasting, negative consequences for every American.

“The American public trusts and values public media, whose exceptional content and essential services are a public good that strengthens local communities. For nearly six decades, public media has served families in every corner of America, especially rural and tribal communities, providing extraordinary vital content and services free of charge.

“Without federal funding, many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down. Parents will have fewer high quality learning resources available for their children. Millions of Americans will have less trustworthy information about their communities, states, country, and world with which to make decisions about the quality of their lives. Cutting federal funding could also put Americans at risk of losing national and local emergency alerts that serve as a lifeline to many Americans in times of severe need.

“American taxpayers rightly expect and deserve public media to be reflective of and responsive to the local voices it serves and deliver accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news and information. Rather than dismantle public media, we should fund and strengthen it. The path to a better, more trusted public media is only achievable with continued federal support and constructive reforms.”

Congress had appropriated $525 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for FY 2024. By statute, more than 70% of the appropriation funding goes directly to stations in the form of Community Service Grants.

Public media is a public-private partnership. Stations leverage Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding an average of six times over to raise money from state and local governments, underwriters, foundations and individuals. Rural stations typically depend on CPB funding as a greater part of their budget. Some local affiliates may survive thanks to strong donor support—but many others, especially in rural areas, will not.

Fireworks over the U.S. Capitol in A Capitol Fourth. Photo Credit: Capital Concerts.

PBS affiliates do more than air national programming like Ken Burns documentaries, American Masters, Great Performances, A Capitol Fourth, and the National Memorial Day Concert—they serve their local communities. In Kentucky, KET has long provided essential political coverage, from Kentucky Tonight to Comment on Kentucky to debate moderation and reports from events like Fancy Farm. But this year, due to funding cuts, KET won’t be sending anyone to cover Fancy Farm at all.

While I’ve had concerns with some public media coverage since October 7, it’s clear that local public media journalists are doing more to resist creeping authoritarianism than many reporters at major national outlets. We’re talking about more than 4,400 journalists working at local stations, providing a vital source of local news, especially during emergencies. A number of them are working in underserved and rural areas, increasingly important as news companies lay off staff. Media conglomerates have shown a disturbing willingness to protect their interests by settling lawsuits with Trump, effectively avoiding accountability.

But beyond journalism, public media also plays its part when it comes to issuing emergency warnings. I didn’t know that this was a thing until recent days as it became evident Congress would cut funds. Emergency warnings alone should be a reason to not cut any Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, seeing as how there are more extreme weather events taking place in America these days.

Congress had passed the WARN Act in 2005, establishing a voluntary system allowing cell phone companies to notify their subscribers of imminent threats to life or property. Public television has been an essential partner in the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system since 2013. PBS WARN enables all public television stations to send WEAs out over their transmitters, providing an alternate to cellular connections. There were more than 11,000 WEAs issued over the system in 2024, a 30% increase from 2023. In doing so, they save lives.

It’s not just TV though. The Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS), managed by NPR, receives a national Emergency Alert System feed directly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to send Presidential emergency alerts to local public radio stations.

Speaking of FEMA, FEMA selected the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to administer the Net Generation Warning System (NGWS) grant program back in 2022, providing public media stations funding to upgrade infrastructure to expand alert, warning, and interoperable communications, creating a more resilient and secure public alerting system.

As of April 2025, 45 public television and public radio stations have been awarded NGWS grants from the FY 2022 (first round) funding. In addition, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting received 175 station applications requesting more than $110 million in the second round (FY 2023) of NGWS funding. One can only wonder what is going to happen now that the funding is going to dry up.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting also does its part in providing a civics education, something that is vital in a healthy democracy. It doesn’t just teach children but even adults can benefit from the programming about American citizenship, democracy, and the fundamentals of our government.

Cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting isn’t just a policy decision—it’s a blow to education, journalism, public safety, and democracy itself. From children’s programming and civic education to emergency alerts and trusted local news, public media serves every American in ways we often take for granted. Defunding CPB won’t just silence stations—it will silence communities. And that’s something none of us can afford.