The Case for Public Media
A version of this editorial appeared in The Albany Times Union
One of the more quietly devastating moves from the Trump administration is the effort to slash federal funding for public media, including NPR and PBS, and potentially even claw back funds already appropriated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Congress’ most recent budget.
That would be a major blow to the health of our already-fragile media ecosystem. Public media helps sustain local news where for-profit outlets have collapsed, and it provides journalism that’s not beholden to ratings or ad revenue.
According to a 2024 Northwestern University study, more than 3,200 print newspapers have shuttered since 2005. The pace isn’t slowing — 130 papers closed in the past year alone, with more disappearing at a rate of over two per week.
New York is not immune to this problem. According to the recently formed Empire State News Coalition, New York has experienced a 40% decrease in the number of newspapers between 2004 and 2019, and there is a growing number of communities with little to no access to local newspaper coverage.
The culprit isn’t lack of interest in local stories; it’s a broken business model. Advertising, once the lifeline of local journalism, has been siphoned off by tech giants like Google and Facebook.
As local newsrooms shrink or disappear altogether, so does one of our most essential democratic safeguards: an informed public with the power to hold local officials and institutions accountable.
That’s where public media steps in. Stations affiliated with NPR and PBS, many of them partially funded by taxpayer dollars, fill gaps left by collapsing newsrooms, especially in underserved and rural communities. In upstate New York, for example, public money to affiliates like North Country Public Radio provide robust coverage of the entire Adirondack Park — not only informing listeners, but making residents of the region feel seen.
But President Donald Trump has made public media a target. His claim that NPR and PBS are “radical left monsters” wasn’t just bluster; it was a direct attack on bastions of independent journalism that put public service before profit.
And that distinction matters. Unlike their commercial counterparts, public media outlets aren’t chasing clicks or ratings. They’re not beholden to advertisers or shareholder interests. This independence allows them to focus on stories that inform, not just entertain—or enrage.
Take, for example, coverage of transgender issues, which often provoke strong emotional reactions. Critics frequently accuse NPR of left-leaning bias, assuming they flood the airwaves with progressive talking points. But a simple comparison tells a different story: a search of NPR.org reveals 5,345 digital stories mentioning “transgender.” On FoxNews.com? Over 140,000. So which outlet is really exploiting cultural flashpoints for clicks?
Or consider how major networks cover fear-inducing stories like plane crashes. In just the first quarter of this year, ABC’s World News Tonight mentioned “plane crash” 181 times—often daily—despite air travel being the safest form of transportation. PBS’s NewsHour, by contrast, used the term only seven times, mostly in the context of a deadly accident at Reagan National Airport in January. One network stokes fear for attention. The other prioritizes relevance and restraint.
It’s easy to reduce public media to childhood nostalgia — “Sesame Street,” calm radio voices, tote bags at pledge drives. But NPR and PBS are much more than warm fuzzies or liberal caricatures. They’re among the last reliable institutions committed to informing the public with depth, nuance and accountability.
And make no mistake: The campaign against the media won’t stop there. President Donald Trump has already gutted Voice of America and has repeatedly threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of commercial networks after unflattering coverage.
If we allow the dismantling of public media, we’re opening the door to something far more dangerous: a democracy without independent journalism. We can’t afford to let that happen.
Heywood Reynolds is a freelance cartoonist and an editor of Marginalia Magazine.