Breaking: Elon Musk and Donald Trump are officially trying to defund public broadcasters like NPR and PBS!
Dear MoveOn member,
The White House wants Congress to rescind more than $1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—which could eliminate almost all federal support for public broadcasters like PBS and NPR.1
Donald Trump and his allies want to defund independent, public journalism because it threatens MAGA’s grip on the national narrative. Since his inauguration, Trump has discredited journalists and attacked media outlets who don’t report in the way he likes—he most recently attacked CBS and said they should pay a “big price” for “going after him.”2
Now MAGA will take their attacks on journalism to the next level by taking away crucial funds to independent public broadcasting. If Congress supports this move, it would be devastating for public broadcasting stations across the nation and the everyday people that rely on them.
Millions of Americans—from large cities to rural areas—look to public broadcasts to stay safe and informed. Media outlets like PBS and NPR provide people with access to independent journalism, educational programming, and local news. Losing these crucial news organizations would devastate many communities, but together, we can fight back.
Will you sign the petition to demand that Congress protect public broadcasting?
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.
Everyone benefits from public media programming. And our most vulnerable communities will suffer the most if Trump is successful in 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.
Members of Congress are elected to represent us. We need them to call out Trump’s lies and defend and protect our right to independent media! Will you sign the petition?
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.
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.4 Losing access to these crucial updates during a climate emergency can leave entire communities vulnerable to more loss and destruction.
The attacks on public broadcasting 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.
Click here to sign the petition now and demand that Congress vote NO on cutting funding for public broadcasting and protect crucial broadcasters like PBS and NPR!
Thanks for all you do.
–Alexis, Eric, Alyssa, Amy, and the rest of the team
Sources:1. "White House to Ask Congress to Claw Back Funding From NPR and PBS," The New York Times, April 14, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/business/media/trump-npr-pbs-funding.html
2. "President Trump says CBS and ’60 Minutes’ should ‘pay a big price’ for going after him," AP News, April 13, 2025
https://apnews.com/article/trump-cbs-60-minutes-2c8a32df63f3ec50cfffe94a26436fda
3. "Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation have plans to defund public broadcasting," MediaMatters, April 26, 2024
https://www.mediamatters.org/project-2025/project-2025-and-heritage-foundation-have-plans-defund-public-broadcasting
4. "Through widespread outages and collapsed infrastructure, North Carolina journalists hustle to cover Helene’s aftermath," Poynter, October 1, 2024
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2024/north-carolina-local-reporters-cover-hurricane-helene-damage/
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