PBS plans to cut its budget by 21% as public media faces the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funding over the next two fiscal years.
Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, informed station general managers Wednesday of the planned cuts. The overall pool of station dues will be reduced by $35 million, she said. Local outlets are grappling with their own budget holes given the loss of federal support.
As Congress considered legislation to rescind the $1.1 billion in funding already allocated to stations, NPR and PBS, Kerger warned of severe cuts.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, set up by Congress in the 1960s to distribute federal funding grants, announced that it would be shutting down by the end of the year. The New York Times first reported on the PBS cuts.
Although PBS only received a small portion of direct funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, stations also paid dues to the national outlet, which distributes shows like PBS News Hour and Masterpiece. Public media advocates have warned that some stations, particularly those in rural areas, relied on federal funding for a larger portion of their budgets than those in larger cities, with a bigger base of support from private donors.
Katherine Maher, the president and CEO of NPR, told Texas Public Radio last month that it would cut $8 million from its budget “in order for us to pass along that as fee relief to the most affected stations.” She described the reduction as a “short term step” as NPR works on a longer term plan.
Current federal funding runs through the end of his fiscal year, September 30. President Donald Trump championed the rollback of federal funding, and threatened to withhold support from lawmakers who voted against his wishes.
Source link
