I grew up on the street — “Sesame Street.” I stopped by “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” and took a ride on the “Reading Rainbow.” I imagined selling an old lamp for millions of dollars on the “Antiques Roadshow” before catching the bubbles on the “Lawrence Welk Show.”
I still keep my radio dial set to the local NPR station — 89.1 KMUW — so I can hear the latest news and interviews. Along the way, I compete against the panelists on “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!”
So the recent rescission of $1.1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) certainly caught my attention. After all, PBS and NPR receive a portion of their funding from the CPB.
President Donald Trump and his political allies believe these two public media outlets are politically biased.
Such statements are false.
Research by Hans J. G. Hassell, John B. Holbein, and Matthew R. Miles studied more than 6,800 political reporters and found these “journalists do not seem to be exhibiting liberal media bias (or conservative media bias) in what they choose to cover.”
Besides, the rescission bill barely impacts NPR and PBS.
As Victor Pickard wrote for The Nation, the “$535 million that Congress currently allocates to the CPB covers roughly 1 percent of NPR’s and 15 percent of PBS’s budget.”
In reality, the funding clawback hurts small, rural media outlets.
As Austin Fuller reported for Current, the “CPB distributes more than 70% of its appropriation to local stations.”
These stations fill a vital role in their communities, many of which may not have adequate Internet or cellphone coverage.
Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski represents Alaska, and in May 2025 she wrote an editorial in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner where she explained that a loss of funding for public media would mean that “warning systems for natural disasters, power outages, boil water advisories, and other alerts would be severely hampered.”
Proving this as the Senate debated the rescission bill, according to Associated Press reporting, “a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the remote Alaska Peninsula, triggering tsunami warnings on local public broadcasting stations that advised people to get to higher ground.”
As Frank Langfitt reported, “radio remains the fastest way to let citizens know about everything from water main breaks to road closures.”
Local newspapers can also provide this information, but the ability to disseminate such details differs in terms of timeliness.
A newspaper’s website can be updated immediately, but if Internet or cellphone coverage is lacking, nobody will be able to get the update when they need it.
Local television and radio stations don’t have to contend with such limitations.
Yet this loss of financial will impact those small-town outlets the hardest, potentially putting lives at risk.
In fact, Wichita’s KMUW lost $225,000 in federal funding, and, according to the National Press Club Journalism Institute, Smoky Hills PBS, which reaches more than 1.2 million people in Kansas, receives nearly half of its budget via federal monies.
Kansas Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran both voted in favor of the rescission bill.
Furthermore, Native American radio stations may be forced to go off the air.
According to scholars Allison Perlman and Josh Shepperd, there are “nearly 1,500 public media stations in the U.S.”
If they all cease broadcasting due to the loss of funding, the implications for our democratic society could be dire.
Writing for Nieman Lab, Joshua Benton highlighted research showing that democracies need public media: “the benefits of a robust public broadcaster come from the simple fact that it exists — a centering anchor in the media marketplace — not only that it attracts a big audience.”
Though the damage has been done, this mistake can be rectified. Our political leaders should reinstate the funding, but that seems unlikely in our polarized political landscape. Until they see the error of their ways, support local media outlets by making a donation.
Public media outlets provide invaluable services, and we will become a less-informed and endangered citizenry without them.
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is a native of Canton, a resident of McPherson County, and a media researcher and educator. He can be contacted with questions or comments via his website at www.toddvogts.com.
