Guest Editorial: The Rescission Decision for Public Broadcasting
By Keith Mobley of Dufur, Ore.
Keith Mobley
The Dalles, Ore., Aug. 8, 2025— Poking a hornets’ nest will often get a response. Most supporters of public broadcasting do not regard themselves as hornets, but they do appear to be gathering in large numbers.
“A Harris Poll last month found that 66% of Americans support federal funding for public radio, with the same share calling it a good value. Support included 58% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats.”
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/01/cpb-to-shut-down-after-public-media-loses-federal-funding/
A recent poke inviting a response was the removal and termination of Congressionally authorized funding for public broadcasting.
An early response is the announcement that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down. Other responses and their effects will become obvious in the days ahead. Most will be negative; a possible positive is suggested below after some additional background and history.
The withdrawal of approximately $1.1 billion from public broadcasting that is part of the rescission package is projected to have effects as described by Corporation for Public Broadcasting CEO Pat Harrison.
“Without federal funding, many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down. Parents will have fewer high quality learning resources available for their children,” he said. “Millions of Americans will have less trustworthy information about their communities, states, country, and world with which to make decisions about the quality of their lives. Cutting federal funding could also put Americans at risk of losing national and local emergency alerts that serve as a lifeline to many Americans in times of severe need.”
Just how important is the role of public broadcasting? Several considerations underscore its importance.
Print media is in a state of decline, losing readers to social media. https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/
Social media is so divided communication between right and left is rare. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/
Compromise is essential to the effective functioning of democracy. https://magazine.byu.edu/article/the-necessity-of-compromise/
Public broadcasters are among the last remaining locally owned and controlled sources of news, information and cultural programming. https://billmoyers.com/2011/11/16/the-pivotal-role-of-public-television-november-16-2011/
In 1970, the following mission statement was written by Bill Siemering , one of the pioneers of public broadcasting.
“National Public Radio will serve the individual: it will promote personal growth; it will regard the individual differences among men with respect and joy rather with derision and hate; it will celebrate the human experience as infinitely varied rather than vacuous and banal; it will encourage a sense of active constructive participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.”
Public broadcasting, through NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has done what Bill Siemering hoped for, which should still continue for many. As a result of the action led by the President and approved by the Republican majorities in the Senate and House, for many it will not – if we demonstrate only “apathetic helplessness.”
“Active constructive participation” is called for if individuals who have enjoyed personal growth, celebrated individual differences, and tried to help the vacuous and banal, will now recognize the magnitude of the threat posed by President Trump and his adherents.
Bill Moyers, who was another leader in public broadcasting, likened it to operating under the equivalent of the Articles of Confederation, replaced by the Constitution in 1789. In 2011, he told his listeners it was time to call a convention to prepare an equivalent response for public broadcasting. It did not happen.
In arguing for a convention, Moyers said this: "The core problem is that we still don’t have an expansive national vision of what we’re about, where we want to go and what we want to become."
https://billmoyers.com/2011/11/16/the-pivotal-role-of-public-television-november-16-2011/
With the rescission by this president and his followers of funding previously authorized by congressional action, there may be no better time to remember and act on the Moyers proposal. This was a major poke, and that large number of supporters could consider a role as figurative hornets.
Keith Mobley is a retired lawyer who has served on the board of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
