KBCS Message on White House Executive Order to Cut NPR and PBS Funding

May 2, 2025 - 1:44 pm

We are deeply concerned by the executive order to cut NPR and PBS funding. On May 1, 2025, the White House directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and federal agencies to end funding for NPR and PBS. While KBCS is not directly affiliated with NPR, we stand firmly with our colleagues in public media who are being targeted by this decision.

The goal is unmistakable: to dismantle public media as we know it.

Public media was founded on the principle that access to free, non-commercial journalism and educational content strengthens our democracy. Local stations across the country, including ours, rely on the infrastructure and support made possible by the CPB to serve diverse communities with trusted, fact-based information. NPR and PBS are pillars of that ecosystem, producing high-quality journalism and programming that reflects the breadth and complexity of American life.

The claim that public media is inherently biased misunderstands the mission and editorial standards that guide our work. Independence, accuracy, and public accountability are not threats—they are our commitments.

This decision threatens not only two nationally recognized institutions, but also the hundreds of local stations—urban and rural, large and small—that serve the public interest every day. We know the vital role that public broadcasting plays in civic life, from educational children’s programming to coverage of local issues that commercial media often overlooks.

We join with stations across the country in reaffirming our support for public media and our belief that it must remain a trusted, nonpartisan, and publicly accountable source of information for all.

We urge lawmakers, community leaders, and citizens to stand with us—and with NPR, PBS, and the CPB—in protecting the future of independent public broadcasting.

You can take action to stop this attack on NPR, PBS, and public media by contacting your local representative at protectmypublicmedia.org.

– The KBCS Team