News Trump’s FCC makes move to kill PBS & NPR

[UNCjigga]

Free speech absolutists rejoice! Trump has made the opening salvo in a bid to take NPR and PBS permanently off the air. While previous attempts attacked federal funding for these broadcasters, everyone knows that federal funds make a minuscule percentage of total funding.

Now Trump is going after corporate sponsorships of NPR and PBS. See, when these organizations were initially chartered, advertising was prohibited. Granted, federal funding made up a greater portion of the budget back then.

Nowadays, of course, every program on PBS/NPR starts with an message that begins with “This program is brought to you in part by Xxx, Yada, yada, and viewers/listeners like you”. That’s what the FCC is attacking. Because Trump’s FCC knows that if you get rid of the messaging, corporate donors are less likely to contribute!

Edit: Gift link without paywall now

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/...ytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 

[Brainonska511]

Fred Rogers is rolling over his his grave. He's probably spinning so fast because of the lessons the current crop of Republicans failed to learn from his shows that we should wrap some coil around him to generate electricity.

 

[ericlp]

Well, of course he is. He only wants truth social, 777 club and FOX to be aired 24/7. You know the religious right wing whack job media.

 

[alien42]

You can pry NPR and PBS out of my cold dead hands.

While this clearly sucks, I'm not too worried about it, they don't depend on much federal support.

 

[hal2kilo]

You can pry NPR and PBS out of my cold dead hands.

While this clearly sucks, I'm not too worried about it, they don't depend on much federal support.

Well, they've seen the writing on the wall for a decade or so, so they rely mostly on wealthy donors anymore. Is it the news that drives them crazy, or learning about creatures on this earth, or how other people live in other countries?
PBS news is pablum.

 

[UNCjigga]

You can pry NPR and PBS out of my cold dead hands.

While this clearly sucks, I'm not too worried about it, they don't depend on much federal support.

Read between the lines—while the article quotes them as questioning continued use of federal funds, by attacking on-air corporate underwriting disclosures as “advertising”, they are very much trying to disincentivize corporations from donating.

 

[trenchfoot]

Got'ta get rid of the truth and the facts of what the Trump cabal is up to in order to keep The People in the dark, dumbed down, docile and hearing and seeing only what Trump and his social media pals like Musk and Zuckerberg want you all to see. Both of those cretins have joined with Trump to restrict access to what's real in Trump's sphere of influence of which is of course critical to them. However, just as critical is how they allow the free flow of disinformation and lies coming out of Trump and the RNC Ministry of Propaganda.

Still can't believe how so many millions of Americans got conned into allowing Trump to pour his blatant stinking crapola on their heads and shoulders and in their eyes and ears.

 

[BoomerD]

Coming next, he will order that donations to those "nasty librul broadcasting companies" will no longer be tax deductible. That will put a serious crimp in charitable donations "from people like you."

 

[trenchfoot]

Coming next, he will order that donations to those "nasty librul broadcasting companies" will no longer be tax deductible. That will put a serious crimp in charitable donations "from people like you."

From what I've been seeing and hearing over the years from our news media outlets, there is a definite yielding to the far right brand of disinformative rhetoric where not mentioning certain critically important information that would expose Trump's lackeys and the party's malfeasance while freely pandering to the right wing talking points has taken a turn for the worse.

For example: CNN's "new format for giving both sides fair treatment" has been surreptitiously one sided for the far right. "Fairness" for the right to get disingenuous preferential treatment and "fair" for the left to get hoodwinked and stifled out time for stating the facts and the truths of the intentions and actions of Trump's Project 2025 effort to destroy democracy in America.

 

[darkswordsman17]

You can pry NPR and PBS out of my cold dead hands.

While this clearly sucks, I'm not too worried about it, they don't depend on much federal support.

The funding isn't the big one, its them threatening their broadcast license.

You might recognize this as them realizing that preaching Capitalism people will speak with their wallets and they can't make money when that happens (aka, people tell them to fuck off monetarily). Don't be surprised if both get record donations, which is why this asswipe was trying to demonize that to justify them looking beyond money for ways for him to go after them.

 

[UNCjigga]

Now it seems that MTG is asking NPR and PBS to testify in front of her new subcommittee next month. It seems she believes that because they take public money, they shouldn't be able to exercise editorial control of their content. In other words, you'd better have more right-wing news/viewpoints, or else we WILL cut off your federal and commercial funding.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/02/03/congress/doge-musk-mtg-trump-00202103

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Now it seems that MTG is asking NPR and PBS to testify in front of her new subcommittee next month. It seems she believes that because they take public money, they shouldn't be able to exercise editorial control of their content. In other words, you'd better have more right-wing news/viewpoints, or else we WILL cut off your federal and commercial funding.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/02/03/congress/doge-musk-mtg-trump-00202103

I hope they just say no. Let the govt take them to court, cut their broadcasting licence, just go down fighting.

 

[trenchfoot]

When the right wing needs to incessantly suppress the truth and facts of what they're up to like they've been doing for decades on end, why is it that this hiding, suppressing and distracting of their shenanigans not a very clear sign that they can't be trusted, yet the bulk of the major news media seems to always gloss over this fact of political life as if it's just business as usual when the lies and disinformation and attempts at suppressing their word and deed should be called out and have them held accountable for every nefarious and malicious act they perpetrate against the public. It makes me wonder just how much longer MSNBC, NPR and PBS will be able to call to account what the Trump cabal is now transforming our nation into.

These vile despicable instances of hoodwinking and gaslighting the public at large add up and it ultimately led to Donald Trump, the serial liar and convicted felon being put back in office to continue his tirade of blatant lies, and now that's not worthy of our news media to call out, rebuke and debunk at every turn? When was it ever OK to, among other numerous totally disqualifying factors, elect a known felon and adjudicated sex offender?

Our Fourth Estate seems to have been muzzled in this regard, as if it's been corrupted into silence when there was a time when keeping our politicians honest was one of their primary responsibilities. My how times have changed for the worse.

Good job, Trump voters. Too bad you just don't give a shit what you've done to the country. So sad to see you simply walk away from the sell-off of democracy you've caused knowing you're never going to be held personally accountable for your recklessness.

 

[UNCjigga]

Welp, they finally killed off public funding for PBS and NPR after the Senate passed a rescission bill last night (which will sail through the House) and already zeroed out future funding in the OBBB.

So what happens next? The biggest broadcasters and their affiliates (I.e. WNYC, WAMU, WBUR) are likely safe, as is my WUNC. They are mostly donor funded and are building new partnerships with foundations and other organizations to address funding issues. They may still need to cut back on some programming to balance their budgets.

Some smaller regional players will likely need to rethink their business models. It remains to be seen if they will need to remain 100% public in order to carry programming from the big boys mentioned above, or if they can adopt a mixed format with some commercial/ad-supported programming.

The smallest rural stations are fucked. They either fold into some sort of ownership group/network affiliated with the larger public stations (who right now don’t have the cash to burn on operating loss leaders) or they shut down and sell off their assets/licenses in a fire sale. My guess is the latter is what Sinclair and other media groups cozying up to Trump have been lobbying for. I thought there might be FCC rules preventing a public station from selling their license but I’m sure they’ll find a way around that if they want to.

If this happens, right wing conservative media will have a stranglehold on public airwaves in rural America (which is still woefully underserved with reliable Internet access, Starlink be damned). With the dismantling of Dept of Education, you can just imagine how these folks will be molded and shaped into the next generation of radical conservatives.

 

[fskimospy]

This is a larger problem than just the immediate effects too. That funding was part of a bipartisan budget deal that republicans are now reneging on.

As Trump is quickly learning with trade if your counterparties don’t believe you will fulfill your commitments there won’t be deals in the future.

 

[brycejones]

This is a larger problem than just the immediate effects too. That funding was part of a bipartisan budget deal that republicans are now reneging on.

As Trump is quickly learning with trade if your counterparties don’t believe you will fulfill your commitments there won’t be deals in the future.

When the shutdown is coming the GOP will accuse democrats of not acting in good faith when democrats say “what’s the point of negotiating with the GOP when they don’t honor previous deals”.

Also my shit stain “Christian pastor” of a representative did a push poll on Facebook asking if taxpayers should fund biased media or spend the money “wisely”. Fuck that fucking fake ass Christian.

 

[trenchfoot]

All I have left to wonder about is just how much of the damage Trump has done in his and his party's efforts at seizing and holding on to the gov't can be undone after Trump's term is done with. Without him, who among them will be able to seamlessly step into those blood and shit stained shoes that he'll leave in the oval office. Will it be North Korean style where one of his kids takes the reins or Putin style where the oligarchs form up behind a ruthless political tactician that can kill off any contenders and turn our right to vote into a sham of a system that gets horrifically played off as a no more than a joke.

What lies ahead scares me more than what Trump is doing at the present.

 

[brycejones]

All I have left to wonder about is just how much of the damage Trump has done in his and his party's efforts at seizing and holding on to the gov't can be undone after Trump's term is done with. Without him, who among them will be able to seamlessly step into those blood and shit stained shoes that he'll leave in the oval office. Will it be North Korean style where one of his kids takes the reins or Putin style where the oligarchs form up behind a ruthless political tactician that can kill off any contenders and turn our right to vote into a sham of a system that gets horrifically played off as a no more than a joke.

What lies ahead scares me more than what Trump is doing at the present.

If there is the will to fix the shit he broke it will take decades which was the point

 

[fskimospy]

When the shutdown is coming the GOP will accuse democrats of not acting in good faith when democrats say “what’s the point of negotiating with the GOP when they don’t honor previous deals”.

Also my shit stain “Christian pastor” of a representative did a push poll on Facebook asking if taxpayers should fund biased media or spend the money “wisely”. Fuck that fucking fake ass Christian.

Well sure they will lie about it but that’s not really my point. My point is now they will always be asked how they can prove they won’t go back on their promises.

 

[trenchfoot]

If there is the will to fix the shit he broke it will take decades which was the point

That's some legacy Trump is going to leave behind him. His helping Mitch McConnell stack the SCOTUS with corporate owned stooges proves your point beyond doubt.

So sad that in his narcissistic infected mind, Trump's legacy will be whatever he and his cult following thinks it should be, facts be damned as usual. How he and the folks that voted for him have managed to escape reality for so long is another chapter in his legacy that will outlive himself. Simply amazing what can be done to people's heads that they would think Trump was the answer they were always looking for.

 

[brycejones]

That's some legacy Trump is going to leave behind him. His helping Mitch McConnell stack the SCOTUS with corporate owned stooges proves your point beyond doubt.

So sad that in his narcissistic infected mind, Trump's legacy will be whatever he and his cult following thinks it should be, facts be damned as usual. How he and the folks that voted for him have managed to escape reality for so long is another chapter in his legacy that will outlive himself. Simply amazing what can be done to people's heads that they would think Trump was the answer they were always looking for.

The real architects of breaking the government are not Trump it’s the people behind project 2025.

 

[nickqt]

The real architects of breaking the government are not Trump it’s the people behind project 2025.

It's Republicans from the late 1960s and early 1970s that kickstarted all of this.

This isn't year 5/10 of Trumpism, it's years 45 of Reaganism.

The government is getting whittled down to bathtub size.

 

[fskimospy]

It's Republicans from the late 1960s and early 1970s that kickstarted all of this.

This isn't year 5/10 of Trumpism, it's years 45 of Reaganism.

The government is getting whittled down to bathtub size.

The government is not meaningfully changing in size, at least insofar as spending is concerned.

The main problem here is that the old constitutional order is gone and the president is a king now. There’s no way to go back to the old order, it’s gone and will have to be replaced.

 

[nickqt]

The government is not meaningfully changing in size, at least insofar as spending is concerned.

The main problem here is that the old constitutional order is gone and the president is a king now. There’s no way to go back to the old order, it’s gone and will have to be replaced.

The government isn't just spending, it's the people who run the everyday government apparatus to make it functional. They are breaking the government by firing people who know how to operate the government. USAID, DOJ, Dept. of Education, etc, etc.

The government that does things as a public good is being mothballed. And once those things are turned off, it's easier to keep those things turned off than to turn them back on again.

 

[trenchfoot]

The government isn't just spending, it's the people who run the everyday government apparatus to make it functional. They are breaking the government by firing people who know how to operate the government. USAID, DOJ, Dept. of Education, etc, etc.

The government that does things as a public good is being mothballed. And once those things are turned off, it's easier to keep those things turned off than to turn them back on again.

It's all happening right before our very eyes. It's going to take some folks wising up to the mistake they made voting for that convicted felon and sex perv to get some sense of what used to be normal back into play. Not giving odds on that happening. If those folks who voted for him twice knowing or maybe even having the slightest inclination that Trump is a chronic liar, shyster and thief of top secret gov't docs, it seems there's not much that could snap them out of that cultish spell they put themselves under.

The question of the ages should be what would it take for them to give up this Trump fetish they all seem addicted to.