John,

If you’ve been feeling uneasy about what’s happening to PBS and NPR, you’re not alone. 

Public media has always been a welcome respite for me, where I can tune out advertisers and partisan agendas and just get the facts. It helps our children learn, our families stay informed, and our communities get connected when we need it most.

So, when Congress ripped away the funding that keeps PBS and NPR on the air — at the urging of Donald Trump — it didn’t feel like a policy debate. It felt like censorship. It felt like an authoritarian attempt to silence one of the only places where the truth is still allowed to stand on its own.

And that’s exactly what it is.

PBS and NPR refuse to bend their reporting to protect politicians. They’ll never hide facts that powerful people would rather keep buried. They refuse to turn journalism into propaganda. 

And John, that independence threatens leaders who want to control not just our laws – but what we see, hear, and think.

You’re seeing the same danger signs we are: attacks on reporters, punishment for honest coverage, and a growing belief among our country’s elites that dissent isn’t something to answer — it’s something to crush. 

That’s why Congress cut $1.1 billion from PBS and NPR’s budget - not because the public wasn’t using them enough - but because Trump doesn’t want us hearing from anyone he can’t bully into towing his party line.

I’ll still find a way to get the news I need – and you probably will too. But what about the rural towns that depend on NPR for local news and emergency alerts? Or families whose children learned to read and explore the world through PBS when nothing else was available? 

There are millions of Americans who rely on public media because it’s the only free, non-partisan, and fact-focused outlet available.

So, when those stations go dark, it won’t be the wealthy or well-connected who feel the loss. It will be everyone else who depends on public institutions because every other institution has forgotten them.

That’s why Common Cause is stepping up.

We’re pressing Congress to restore public media funding immediately. We’re calling out the political pressure behind these cuts, so we know who’s willing to silence the truth for political gain. And we’re making sure Americans know exactly which corporate media outlets, unlike PBS and NPR, are caving to Trump to protect their profits.

John, if PBS or NPR has ever helped you make sense of what’s going on in our world, or reminded you what real journalism sounds like, then you know what we’re fighting for.

Public media isn’t just programming. It’s one of the last defenses we have against censorship and authoritarian control over the truth. And if we don’t fight for it now, we may lose it for good.

If you’re ready to protect it — and to push back against the political forces trying to silence it — I hope you’ll consider chipping in $5 (or whatever you can spare) today. Your support will help us continue leading the national fight to restore this critical funding and defend the people who depend on it.

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Thank you for refusing to let them silence the public’s voice.

Olan and the team at Common Cause