WASHINGTON – April 15, 2025 – Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, made the following statement on the proposed rescission package to eliminate public media funding:
“America’s Public Television Stations are deeply disappointed that a proposal to eliminate funding for public broadcasting is being considered for a rescission package. We urge Congress to reject the destructive recissions of public broadcasting funding. Rescinding previously appropriated federal funding for public broadcasting defies the will of the American people and would devastate the public safety, educational and local service missions of public media stations – services that the American public values, trusts and relies on every day.
“A rescission of funds threatens the very existence of the nation’s local public broadcasting stations and the entire public broadcasting system. This includes the over 160 locally operated and controlled public television stations that serve communities small and large throughout this country from the most remote corners of Alaska to the hollows of Appalachia, public broadcasting is a lifeline in hundreds of communities where there is no other source of local media.
“Eliminating federal funding for public media would leave many Americans, especially those in rural communities and states, without the critical services local public television stations provide from proven education resources to essential local connections. Eliminating federal funding for public media would significantly jeopardize public safety across the country.
“The federal investment in public media enables us to provide the delivery of geo-targeted wireless emergency alerts to cell phones, and the only nationwide situational awareness tool used by public safety officials to track and monitor the effectiveness of those alerts.
“We support families in preparing their kids for success in school and life with free, universally accessible, proven educational content, including for the over 50 percent of U.S. kids that don’t attend formal preschool. These are services that American families rely upon every day. In fact, according to a recent YouGov survey, 82% of voters, including 72% of Trump voters, said they valued PBS for its children's programming and educational tools.
“And we connect communities, celebrating their hometown heroes and local history, while coming together to address present day issues and charting a course for a bright future.
“These services are essential for the American people and worthy of the federal investment, which amounts to about $1.60 per person per year and less than one 1/100th of a percent of the federal budget.
“Federal funding for public media is irreplaceable and essential to local public media stations and the existence of the public media system as a whole.
“Public media has earned the broad support of the American people, across the political spectrum, including 65% of people who voted for President Trump who think public television is either adequately funded or underfunded, according to a recent YouGov survey. And just last month, the Pew Research Center found that Americans are more likely to support than oppose continuing federal funding for NPR and PBS by a factor of almost 2:1.
“That bipartisan support in the public has been consistently reflected in Congress, which approved additional funding for public media just a few weeks ago in the FY 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act.
“We urge Congress to reject any rescission of funds for public broadcasting and the communities that rely on our local stations to provide lifesaving public and educational services every day to Americans in every corner of this country."
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and community connections to their local areas and the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org