Dear MoveOn member,
Republicans are attacking PBS and NPR from multiple directions, doing anything they can to advance their right-wing agenda to defund public broadcasting.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s so-called "DOGE subcommittee" has officially called for the CEOs of PBS and NPR to testify before Congress and defend their sponsorships on local stations.1 And legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate to strip federal funding for NPR and PBS.2
Yes, you read that right: MAGA Republicans are trying to attack these noncommercial stations for both accepting corporate underwriting and for receiving funding from the government. Their illogical, inconsistent attacks are part and parcel of their chaos agenda to eliminate essential services in favor of more tax cuts for billionaires.
This is part of a decades-old Republican playbook to attack independent media, undermine it, and attempt to defund it. Project 2025 even states “the government should not be compelling the conservative half of the country to pay for the suppression of its own views.”3 But this is just propaganda to justify their cuts. We know that everyone benefits from public media programming. And our most vulnerable communities will suffer the most from defunding public broadcasting. In many rural areas in our country, public broadcasting is the main or sole source for receiving news, emergency updates, and more.
Trump has spent the last month attacking news organizations and even recently removed the Associated Press from attending press conferences in the White House because the news outlet wouldn't refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."4 It's clear that Trump will go to any length to stop independent journalism that won't parrot his lies. It's terrifying to imagine the consequences if Trump is successful in shutting down independent media, with our news sources devolving solely into right-wing propaganda. With stakes this high, we have to act now to block Trump's crusade against the freedom of press.
NPR and PBS are beloved institutions that millions of people rely on all across the country—from large cities to rural areas. They provide people with access to independent journalism, educational programming, and local news. Losing these crucial news organizations would devastate many communities, but we can fight back.
When Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina and caused hundreds of thousands of people to lose power and access to cell service, local NPR stations became the most reliable source of news. They provided crucial information about evacuation updates and emergency information.5
Climate disasters are hitting our communities more frequently and more intensely. Many of our communities don't have the infrastructure needed to protect us during times of climate emergencies—which is why it’s even more important for every person to have access to public broadcasting. Losing access to these crucial updates during a climate emergency can leave entire communities vulnerable to more loss and destruction.
The attacks on NPR and PBS are just another attempt from Republicans to strip away the services Americans need and deserve—from Medicaid to national parks to public broadcasting and so much more. We have to come together to put pressure on Republicans to stop these attacks and protect public broadcasting.
Thanks for all you do.
–Alexis, Kelsey, Amanda R., Allison, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "MTG-led panel plans hearing to grill NPR and PBS heads," AXIOS, February 3, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202878?t=7&akid=426977%2E40999114%2EQ-VE6D
2. "A Second Bill Targets Public Media Funding for Radio & TV." Inside Radio, February 14, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202879?t=9&akid=426977%2E40999114%2EQ-VE6D
3. "Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation have plans to defund public broadcasting," Media Matters for America, April 26, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/202880?t=11&akid=426977%2E40999114%2EQ-VE6D
4. "Trump says AP will be curtailed at the White House until it changes its style to Gulf of America," AP News, February 18, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202840?t=13&akid=426977%2E40999114%2EQ-VE6D
5. "Through widespread outages and collapsed infrastructure, North Carolina journalists hustle to cover Helene's aftermath," Poynter, October 1, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/202839?t=15&akid=426977%2E40999114%2EQ-VE6D
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