Radio Silence?
Trump’s assault on public radio and tv is his latest attempt to silence outlets that don’t sing backup to his unchained melodies.
This is the second piece on how the Trump administration is attempting to silence voices that don’t sing in harmony with Donald Trump. The first was about the administration’s assault on America’s international broadcasting. Another will examine the costs of discouraging students and scholars from pursuing their studies and research in the United States.
Today’s piece is on the administration’s assault on domestic public broadcasting.
Local public broadcasting outlets are helping fill the vacuum left as the number of local journalists has declined by an average of 75 percent since 2002. By a Friday deadline, Congress is moving to vote on a measure to claw back $500 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports local public broadcasting stations.
As the congressional debate over public broadcasting approaches a conclusion, CPB released a poll on Tuesday that found the public trusts public media more than for-profit news organizations and that 53 percent oppose cutting funding for it.
Lost in the national political noise is the importance of public broadcasting in the places where many Americans live. Here’s a look at the role public broadcasting is playing in West Virginia from my former colleague Curtis Tate, now a reporter for West Virginia Public Broadcasting:
Public broadcasting is an essential service in a rural state such as West Virginia. Its 1.77 million residents are spread over 55 counties, most of them rural and rugged.
WVPB is the only truly statewide broadcast organization, and the only one that broadcasts the state legislature's 60-day session. During the session, WVPB broadcasts The Legislature Today, a 30-minute program, every evening on TV and radio. It’s the only program like it, and it provides an opportunity for listeners and viewers to hear from their legislators and about issues of concern to the state.
WVPB has reporters based in north-central West Virginia and in the eastern Panhandle, which both are hours from Charleston, the state capital. They bring the issues and perspectives of those areas to the rest of the state.
In addition to politics and government, WVPB has reporters dedicated to covering education, health, and energy and the environment.
It's not only news and public affairs that WVPB provides. We offer free educational programming to schools and students in all 55 counties. WVPB broadcasts the Academic Showdown every spring, when high school students from across the state test their knowledge on a variety of subjects.
WVPB is also the home of Mountain Stage, a nationally broadcast live music show that can be heard on 270 stations around the country with a signature mix of folk, country, blues and indie rock.
Another flagship radio program, Inside Appalachia, features the rich history, culture, music and food of a region that stretches across 13 states.
WVPB also issues emergency alerts statewide. As we’ve all just seen, this is especially important in locations that have poor mobile phone coverage and weak internet connectivity.
When and if members of Congress vote this week, they'll be voting on whether to kill funding, starting in October, for WVPB and other local stations that provide original news, educational and arts and cultural programming for their listeners and viewers.
It would be very difficult for WVPB to continue doing its work without federal support. While viewers and listeners consistently do what they can to support the mission of the organization, it can't continue to produce the same quality programming on their contributions alone.
A vote in support of public broadcasting is a vote in favor of rural listeners and viewers in West Virginia, Appalachia and beyond.
Here’s more on Curtis Tate and on West Virginia Public Broadcasting