NPR and PBS Face Federal Funding Cuts: What to Know

More than a half-century ago, the federal government took a big step toward the media business when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act into law.

Because of that bill, PBS, NPR and other public broadcasters in the United States have received more than $500 million annually from the government-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

That support now appears to be over. The Senate voted early on Thursday to strip the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The House is expected to give final approval to the cuts later this week, sending it to President Trump, who has strongly pushed for the cuts, for his signature. The change could be catastrophic for radio and TV stations across the country.

Here’s what you need to know.

Will NPR and PBS survive?

Yes. NPR gets about 2 percent of its annual budget directly from federal grants, including from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; for PBS, that amount is about 15 percent. Both organizations also get federal money indirectly, through payments from member stations across the country that receive government funding, though it’s difficult to estimate how much.

The real pain will be felt by local stations in far-flung locations like Unalakleet, Alaska, and Pendleton, Ore. Those broadcasters often rely disproportionately on federal grants for their operations because of a funding formula that takes into account the fact that they have fewer donors and programming sponsors.

What about local stations?

An internal NPR report from 2011 obtained by The New York Times said that if Congress cut off funding to the public radio system, up to 18 percent of the roughly 1,000 member stations would close, with broadcasters in the Midwest, South and the West affected the most. Nationwide, up to 30 percent of listeners would lose access to NPR programming.

For PBS, local TV stations would also bear the brunt of the cuts. And popular programs like “PBS NewsHour” and “Nature” might need to find money elsewhere, such as from donations or syndication.

How are local stations related to NPR and PBS?

Neither NPR nor PBS own their local member stations, and the national organizations don’t dictate the local programming schedules. But the local radio and TV stations pay for the rights to air shows distributed by PBS and NPR — well-known programs like “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “PBS NewsHour.”

NPR produces its flagship programs — known as newsmagazines — with its own staff, and often relies on reporting from member stations scattered throughout the country. PBS distributes programs that are created by member stations, such as “Frontline,” which is produced by WGBH in Boston.

What was the argument for defunding NPR and PBS?

Critics of public broadcasters argued that the media organizations had a liberal bias that taxpayers should not have to support.

Uri Berliner, a former senior editor at NPR, argued in an essay last year that journalists at the public radio network had “coalesced around the progressive worldview,” faulting its coverage of stories such as the controversy surrounding the laptop of then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter.

Some Republican lawmakers, such as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have argued that widespread internet access has made news coverage from rural stations increasingly unnecessary.

Some Republican critics of PBS have taken issue with content that they believe is too focused on issues of race and gender. Those concerns were aired this spring during a congressional hearing where lawmakers grilled Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, and Paula Kerger, the chief executive of the Public Broadcasting Service.

What was the argument for keeping government funding intact?

Proponents of public radio and TV in the United States argued that the organizations provided essential, free and in some cases lifesaving information for Americans across the country for little cost to taxpayers.

In some places, including remote locations that could be most affected by the cuts, public media is one of the only sources of local news.

In addition to news programs like “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition” on NPR, public broadcasting advocates are quick to extol the power of educational programs like “Sesame Street” and “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.”

Defenders of public broadcasting also underscore the virtues of vigorous journalism aired by PBS — programs like “Frontline” and “PBS NewsHour” — and investigations published by NPR, such as a recent deep dive into the Trump administration’s impact on the federal health care budget.

What will happen next?

Once Mr. Trump signs off on the package, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will no longer be able to make grants after September.

It will probably not seriously affect any local radio and TV stations until this fall, when the next payment from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting fails to arrive.