Trump just signed a bill to cancel $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in a move that jeopardizes local NPR and PBS stations across the country, especially in rural areas.

In their latest attack on public media, Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have cancelled over a billion dollars in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS. 

While federal funding makes up 2% of NPR’s annual budget and 15% of PBS’s, some stations will be hit much harder by these cuts. Member stations in rural areas disproportionately rely on federal funding, since they have fewer donors and sponsors that can contribute to their operating budgets.

In 2011, an NPR report found that if it lost federal funding, up to 18% of its member stations would be forced to close, and that up to 30% of listeners would lose access to NPR programing. Stations in the Midwest, South, and West would be most heavily impacted. Similarly, local PBS stations would also bear the brunt of federal funding cuts.

Donations can fill some of the gaps that will be left by these funding cuts, but once again rural areas are at a disadvantage. Stations in big cities have more donors and sponsors who can step up to save their budgets.

But NPR is arguably most crucial in rural areas. These radio stations can be one of the only reliable sources of news in areas without broadband internet coverage, and this is particularly important during emergencies and severe weather events, when NPR is often the only way that residents can get updates from emergency services.   

Funding Cuts Are Already Gutting Rural Public Media Stations Across The Country

Across the country, member stations are having to make hard decisions and cut valuable staff and programming. Here are just some examples of they ways that these cuts will have real consequences for public media stations and the Americans that tune in:

In Alaska, KMXT radio station estimates it will lose 22% of its budget, and the station’s general manager, Jared Griffin, has already decided to take a 50% pay cut. 

Maine’s entire public media system is anticipating it will lose 12% of its budget in the next fiscal year, around $2.5 million. 

In Mississippi, they’re expecting to lose 15% of their operating budget, and a 24-hour streaming service that airs children’s programming like “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” and “Caillou” has already been eliminated.

North Country Public Radio in Canton, New York, expects to lose 12% – 15% of its annual budget, and the station’s general manager, Mitch Teich, told NPR that it will be a lot more difficult to maintain the station’s equipment, keep a full staff, and produce local programming.

KQED, a PBS affiliate station out of San Francisco, has had to lay off 15% of its staff.

Native Public Media, which supports 36 tribal stations across the country, says that its stations rely on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for around half of their budgets.

Allegheny Mountain Radio is a public radio collective in West Virginia that is not part of the NPR network, but it does receive around 65% of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Now, it might not be able to continue providing essential news to a part of the country that does not have consistent internet access. 

Public Media Is Essential To Our Democracy

Providing funding for public media is a vital government service. Local NPR and PBS stations keep communities informed, educated, and connected, especially in areas where other reliable sources of news are scarce.

By cutting over $1 billion in federal funding, Trump and his allies are putting that service at risk, not just for the cities with large donor bases, but for rural towns, Native communities, and entire regions that depend on public media as their only link to local news, weather alerts, educational programming, and emergency information.

Now is the time to speak up, support your local stations, and demand that Congress restore funding for public media. Because we can’t have a democracy without a trusted, independent press — especially one that reaches every corner of the country.