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Good afternoon!
Summer is in full swing, which means about two-thirds of the subscribers to this newsletter will actually read it. The rest will delete it after they put down their mai tais and dust the sand from their feet. As for me, I spent the last two weeks in the UK, where they still have honest-to-god broadsheet newspapers — and a public media system that, while imperfect, remains robustly funded.
** Congress votes to cut public media funding
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It’s official, pending President Donald Trump’s signature: For the first time in U.S. history, public broadcasting is losing its federal funding.
In a narrow vote just past midnight Friday, the House joined the Senate in approving Trump’s request to rescind $1.07 billion in funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The decision wipes out two years of support for NPR, PBS and the 1,400 local stations that rely on CPB grants.
As Poynter reporter Angela Fu writes ([link removed]) , this marks a “striking deference” by Congress to the president’s will.
The impact will be felt far beyond “All Things Considered.” In Alaska, some stations receive over 90% of their funding from CPB. In Native communities, internet access is limited, and local public radio fills the gap. “The loss of nearly 20% of our budget will force us to make impossible choices,” one station director said in a statement, warning of cuts to emergency alerts and lifesaving public safety coverage. NPR CEO Katherine Maher put it bluntly: “Defunding this is a real risk to the public safety of the country.”
As senior media writer Tom Jones writes ([link removed]) in his column, this is a “dark day for journalism, the free press and, perhaps most importantly, everyday Americans who are going to feel the effects.” He notes the irony that it’s not national news coverage being threatened most. It’s local stories, kids programming, weather alerts and wildfire updates. One senator called the cuts “particularly cruel.”
There’s more to come. With this first rescission package now a win, Trump is expected to propose additional cuts. If successful, the defunding of public broadcasting won’t just gut newsrooms. It will reshape the country’s information infrastructure.
As The Washington Post’s Amber Phillips put it, “Press freedom is freedom. Experts say this type of interference is a big step toward the government controlling the flow of information and, in an authoritarian state, much of the rest of society.”
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** A new editor's guide to leveling up
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Join Edit to Elevate, a four-week, craft-intensive course designed to meet the moment and help new editors move beyond the basics to focus on the mission, mindset and roadmap required to make them indispensable to their newsrooms.
Read more and register now ([link removed]) .
** Foreign journalists in the US are self-censoring to protect themselves from the Trump administration
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Some journalists fled authoritarian regimes to speak freely. Now they’re silencing themselves again, this time in the United States.
Reporter Angela Fu writes about how noncitizen journalists are pulling bylines, deleting social media and canceling travel plans to avoid drawing the Trump administration’s attention. The fear is often intangible, but the consequences are very real. These reporters face detainment, deportation or a return to countries where press freedom doesn’t exist.
For many, even holding a green card isn’t enough to feel secure. One journalist wipes WhatsApp before crossing the border. Another has memorized the number of her lawyer in case she disappears.
With immigration and press rights under renewed pressure, newsrooms like Conecta Arizona are offering legal help and survival training. As one source put it: “They came here because they thought that this was a land of opportunity and freedom, and now they are afraid that that’s not going to hold if things keep going the way that they are.”
Read the story ▸ ([link removed])
** 10 years later, this local news site is still climbing — and claiming big numbers
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What happens when a former Daily News editor brings tabloid swagger to local news? You get Greater Long Island, a fast-growing site that trades doom and gloom for punchy, feel-good stories and racks up serious traffic doing it. Founder Michael White says the “secret sauce” is being interesting, entertaining and informative. With 600,000 monthly readers and viral hits about everything from pizza to LeBron James, staff writer Sophie Endrud reports on how a scrappy suburban newsroom is outpacing the competition.
Read the story ▸ ([link removed])
** More from Poynter this week
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* Journalism and Hollywood need each other, says The IP List ([link removed]) (Sophie Endrud)
* What is NOTUS? Young reporters in a “teaching hospital for journalism” learn from DC veterans ([link removed]) (Sophie Endrud)
* Reporters, stop with the double-barreled questions ([link removed]) (Kelly McBride)
* Journalism changes. Good writing advice doesn’t. ([link removed]) (Kristen Hare)
* How many local journalists is enough? ([link removed]) (Steven Waldman)
* Donald Trump appointed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Can he fire him? ([link removed]) (Maria Ramirez Uribe for PolitiFact)
* Who ended up at Alligator Alcatraz? It’s not just ‘worst of the worst’ criminals, as officials said ([link removed]) (Madison Czopek for PolitiFact)
* TikTok ([link removed]) : Did you see the viral clip of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis saying it's okay to hit protesters with your car in that state? Were you as shocked as us when we came across it? Do you think he said this? Not exactly. A viral podcast clip leaves out key context around a complicated law. (MediaWise)
* TikTok ([link removed]) : Did John Hancock really sign the Declaration big enough for the King to see it without his glasses? Our team of Shane, Amaris and Tyler fact-checks this old legend for this Fourth of July. (MediaWise)
* Instagram ([link removed]) : Seriously, write a headline! Just put something down! Even “headline headline headline” is better than nothing!
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The Poynter Institute
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