First, They Came for Big Bird…

Next up—your kid’s free education, grandma’s news, and the only weather alerts in half the country.

My family was never affluent. Like many of you, I grew up on public access and PBS. It was transformative. As an adult, I still turn to public broadcasting for educational content and a bit of comfort. The highlights of my commute are Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, StoryCorps, and Ted Radio Hour. Yes, I am a nerd, but public broadcasting also ensured that I am compassionate. I am moved by storytelling, humor, and deep conversation.

Now - or rather, again- public broadcasting in America is under siege. The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE), chaired by Marjorie Taylor Greene, is holding hearings questioning NPR and PBS, while the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reviewing proposals that could further erode funding and access to public media. These efforts align with Project 2025, a broader right-wing push to eliminate government-funded media. But while these debates rage in Washington, the reality is stark: the people who suffer the most from the loss of NPR and PBS aren’t the elites in big cities but the millions of rural and low-income urban Americans — people like me— who rely on public broadcasting daily.

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The Local News Collapse: A Worsening Crisis

This attack on public media comes at the worst possible time. Local newspapers have been disappearing at an alarming rate, leaving massive gaps in news coverage, especially in rural and lower-income communities.

• Since 2005, more than 3,200 newspapers have shut down, leaving just 5,600 remaining.

• In the past year alone, 130 newspapers have closed, averaging nearly two-and-a-half per week.

• Over half of U.S. counties now have just one or no local news outlets, affecting 55 million Americans.

With newspapers collapsing, who is left to provide nonpartisan, fact-based, and locally relevant reporting? In many communities, the answer is NPR and PBS.

Public media has stepped in where for-profit news organizations have abandoned communities. NPR affiliates cover state politics, local elections, environmental changes, and agricultural markets—issues that directly impact everyday lives but get ignored by commercial networks. When small-town corruption goes unreported because no local newspapers are left, public radio is often the only watchdog left standing.

PBS, meanwhile, provides educational programming, science documentaries, and in-depth historical storytelling that commercial television networks don’t invest in. Where else can you watch investigative journalism like Frontline or cultural programming like Great Performances without a paywall or corporate bias?

So why is public broadcasting under attack?

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How Public Broadcasting is Funded—And Why It’s Not a Drain on Taxpayers

One of the main arguments for defunding public broadcasting is that it would "save taxpayers money." But how much money are we talking about?

• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds NPR and PBS, received $525 million in federal funding in 2024.

• The total U.S. federal budget for 2024 is $6.9 trillion.

• That means public broadcasting accounts for just 0.0076% of the federal budget.

To put that in perspective:

• The U.S. military budget is $886 billion.

• A single F-35 fighter jet costs $135 million, which could fund NPR’s entire share of CPB funding.

• The federal government spends $6.8 billion on Congress.

Public media is one of the most cost-effective public services in the U.S., providing news, education, and cultural programming to over 150 million Americans monthly for pennies per taxpayer. Moreover, federal funding for public media is a small percentage of its operating budget, which is mostly donation and sponsorship-based.

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PBS Is a Lifeline for Families Without Affordable Childcare or Head Start

For millions of working-class families, childcare is unaffordable, and early education programs like Head Start are underfunded—leaving considerable gaps in preschool learning.

• Over 40% of children under 5 live in childcare deserts, where licensed childcare is scarce or unavailable.

• Head Start funding is limited, meaning thousands of eligible families are on waiting lists.

For these children, PBS Kids is often the closest thing to preschool they have.

Studies show that watching PBS Kids programming improves school readiness, especially for children in lower-income households.

• A long-term study on Sesame Street found that children who watched it performed better in elementary school, closing the learning gap between rich and poor children.

• Kids who regularly watched PBS shows like Super Why!, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and WordWorld showed higher early literacy and social-emotional skills than their peers who didn’t.

While wealthier parents can subscribe to paid streaming services, low-income families would lose access to the country’s only free, research-based early education programming.

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Libraries and Digital Access Are Also Under Threat

For decades, public libraries have stepped in to help bridge the digital divide, particularly in rural and low-income communities. Through the E-Rate program, libraries and schools receive federal funding to provide discounted broadband access, allowing people to get online for job searches, education, and public services. But now, that funding is under threat. The issue is heading to the Supreme Court this spring.

The legal challenge questions the constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund (USF), which finances E-Rate. If the Court rules against it, libraries and schools could lose their ability to provide affordable internet access to millions.

Even with E-Rate, broadband infrastructure remains inadequate for remote rural areas that can’t even receive cell service. If NPR and PBS are defunded at the same time E-Rate funding is dismantled, entire communities will be left without any affordable access to news, education, or emergency information.

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Why Public Media’s Commercial-Free Model Is a Crucial Social Good

Some argue that local, commercial, and community radio stations can replace NPR and PBS—but this is a myth. Public broadcasting is uniquely valuable because it is commercial-free and serves the public interest, not corporate advertisers.

✅ It Ensures Unbiased, Fact-Based Journalism
Corporate media relies on ad revenue and sensationalism. NPR and PBS don’t depend on commercials, meaning they can:

• Cover complex policy issues without reducing them to soundbites.

• Investigate corruption and corporate misconduct without fear of losing advertisers.

• Prioritize public education over profit, even on topics that don’t drive clicks.

🔎 Example: While mainstream networks spent weeks obsessing over celebrity scandals, Frontline on PBS aired deep investigations into opioid corruption, corporate tax evasion, and police brutality—stories many commercial outlets avoided.

✅ It Provides Free, High-Quality Education
PBS Kids is one of America's only free, research-backed early childhood education providers. Studies show that watching Sesame Street and Super Why! improves school readiness, especially for low-income children who lack preschool access.

✅ It Preserves Local News & Civic Engagement
With over 55 million Americans now living in news deserts, NPR stations are often the last local news sources holding officials accountable. They:

• Report on state and local elections, which get ignored on cable news.

• Provide emergency alerts and crisis coverage for communities with limited broadband.

• Investigate government corruption in places where newspapers have disappeared.

For-profit news relies on outrage and bias to drive engagement. NPR and PBS are among the most trusted news sources in the country, offering a fact-based alternative to cable news and social media disinformation. Defunding NPR and PBS would leave millions more Americans vulnerable to misinformation, deepening political polarization.

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Rural America: Left Without a Voice

Rural communities rely on public broadcasting for local news, educational content, and emergency alerts in ways urban areas do not. Commercial media often ignores small towns and rural issues because they aren’t as profitable. On the other hand, NPR stations report on local government, environmental changes, and agricultural markets—issues that directly affect rural livelihoods.

For example, South Dakota Public Broadcasting provides coverage on farming policy and ranching trends that no national outlet bothers to cover. Or consider West Virginia Public Broadcasting, one of the only investigative outlets exposing corruption in a state where many print newspapers have folded.

And then there’s emergency broadcasting. When tornadoes rip through the Great Plains or wildfires rage in Montana, public radio is often the only source of real-time updates for communities with weak cell service. Defunding NPR means stripping away a lifeline for rural Americans struggling to get reliable information.

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Low-Income Urban Areas: A Loss of Free Education and News

Public broadcasting isn’t just for the heartland. In low-income urban areas, PBS and NPR provide essential free education, news, and cultural programming that families otherwise couldn’t afford.

For children, PBS is an equalizer in early education. In places like Detroit, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, where public schools are underfunded, and early childhood education options are limited, PBS is often the first (and sometimes only) exposure kids get to high-quality educational content.

For adults, NPR provides lifelong learning opportunities. Shows like Planet Money, Hidden Brain, and Code Switch break down complex economic, psychological, and racial justice issues, making knowledge accessible to everyone.

If these programs disappear, who benefits? Corporate media giants will force people to pay for access to quality journalism. Meanwhile, the most vulnerable populations will be left with a shrinking pool of free, fact-based information.

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Innovative Solutions Like Datacasting Would Be Lost

Pennsylvania offers a perfect example of how public media fills in the gaps. When educators realized that thousands of low-income students in rural and urban areas lacked internet access during COVID-19, Pennsylvania PBS launched a datacasting program—using TV signals to transmit lessons to homes without broadband.

📡 Why This Matters:

• Rural and low-income students without reliable internet were still able to receive school lessons and educational materials.

• Datacasting programs could expand access to education in areas where broadband is unavailable or unaffordable.

• If PBS is defunded, programs like this will disappear, leaving thousands of children without a way to learn.

Corporate media will not step in to fill this gap. Private companies have no incentive to provide free educational resources to children in underserved areas.

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The Bottom Line

PBS and NPR aren’t just TV and radio stations—they are public goods that provide free, fact-based information to millions of Americans. If we let them die, we won’t just lose great programming. We’ll lose one of the last remaining tools for bridging the education gap, fighting disinformation, and keeping our democracy informed.

Critics argue that NPR and PBS are too liberal. Because they show that people different than ourselves exist? For demonstrating compassion and empathy for the lived experiences of others? Due to educating people about topics they might not otherwise have access to information about? Because they might encourage our children to be interested in science? Please help me understand. But later, okay? Because a new episode of Invisibilia just dropped, and I’m invested.

Bibliography:

• Associated Press. "Local news sources are still drying up, but there's growth in digital sites in metro areas." AP News, October 23, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/fa82ebfdefdde058a1cbfaea1a59fb69

• Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. "The State of Local News 2024." Local News Initiative, October 23, 2024. https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2024/report/

• Associated Press. "Decline in local news outlets is accelerating despite efforts to help." AP News, August 2, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/local-newspapers-closing-jobs-3ad83659a6ee070ae3f39144dd840c1b

• Associated Press. "Think the news industry was struggling already? The dawn of 2024 brought more bad news." AP News, December 1, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/journalism-layoffs-business-messenger-83afe18984c2a1fc78e78184dddee17d

• Center for American Progress. "Child Care Deserts." AmericanProgress.org, December 6, 2018. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/child-care-deserts/

• National Bureau of Economic Research. "Early Childhood Education by MOOC: Lessons from Sesame Street." NBER Working Paper No. 21229, May 2015. https://www.nber.org/papers/w21229

• Pennsylvania PBS. "Pennsylvania Department of Education and Pennsylvania PBS Bring School Curriculum to Homes Without Internet." PennsylvaniaPBS.org, September 10, 2020. https://pennsylvaniapbs.org/2020/09/10/pennsylvania-department-of-education-and-pennsylvania-pbs-bring-school-curriculum-to-homes-without-internet/

• U.S. Department of the Treasury. "Federal Spending in Fiscal Year 2024." Fiscal Data Treasury, 2024. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/

• KCUR Public Radio. "How Much Federal Funding Does Public Media Receive?" KCUR, February 7, 2025. https://www.kcur.org/inside-kcur/2025-02-07/federal-funding-public-media-cpb

• NY1 News. "Trump’s FCC Chair Opens Investigation into PBS and NPR Funding." NY1, January 30, 2025. https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2025/01/30/trump-fcc-chair-investigation-pbs-npr-funding