Editor’s Note: Aspen Public Radio reports on itself as it does any other institution, and no administrative staff reviewed this story before it was published.
On Thursday night, President Trump issued an executive order demanding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) stop funding NPR and PBS.
Trump claimed the outlets are biased and federal funding shouldn’t support them, but CPB argues the President has no authority to demand changes to its operations.
The Trump administration has made several attempts to defund public media since taking office in January, and Reporter Halle Zander spoke with Eleanor Bennett on Monday about how these initiatives may affect NPR and its member stations like Aspen Public Radio.
Eleanor Bennett: So first of all, I would venture to say that most listeners don’t know what the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, is. Can you give us some background?
Halle Zander: Sure, so CPB is a nonprofit organization whose budget is funded by Congress, and its main job is to allocate that funding to public media organizations across the country — whether radio or television stations. That includes both NPR and local outlets like Aspen Public Radio.
This creates an important barrier so that news organizations aren’t receiving funds directly from legislators who might try to influence their coverage.
CPB also keeps tabs on infrastructure, repairing radio towers and replacing equipment to help keep stations running.
The outlets it funds are free to the public — that’s what makes them public media — and many serve as the only news outlet in their region.
Bennett: So this executive order is demanding CPB stop directly funding NPR and PBS, but there’s more to it, right?
Zander: Yes, the order also asks CPB to alter its funding agreements with local stations so that outlets like Aspen Public Radio or Rocky Mountain PBS wouldn’t be allowed to use the money it receives from CPB to pay for national programming.
While NPR only receives about 1% of its funding directly from CPB, they’re indirectly funded through these member stations who pay for shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Aspen Public Radio receives about 10% of its budget, or roughly $200,000 annually from CPB, but this specific executive order isn’t targeting that.
Our Executive Director Breeze Richardson explains that a bit.
“It won't necessarily change the receipt of CPB funds by local stations, … but it may mean that we have to change how we fund national programming,” Richardson said.
But remember, CPB is not a federal agency, and it quickly responded on Friday to say that this executive order does not hold any legal weight.
There are, however, other legislative efforts that could put NPR and local stations at risk.
Bennett: OK, tell me about that. What else is going on?
Zander: This order is part of a multi-pronged approach from the Trump administration to defund public media.
First, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating NPR and PBS’ member stations underwriting. These are 15- to 30-second acknowledgements of financial supporters that air throughout the day. The FCC is asserting that they’re too much like commercial ads.
Second, Trump’s executive order goes further to instruct federal agencies to sever all grants and contracts with NPR and PBS.
And finally, the Trump administration is putting pressure on Congress to cut funding entirely to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Public media has undergone these kinds of threats for decades, but these are different times, and some experts say this round of attacks could change public media as we know it.
Bennett: Who’s saying that exactly?
Zander: I spoke with Josh Shepperd who is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He studies the history of public media and its role in the news landscape.
He doesn’t think NPR and PBS will go away any time soon.
The Public Broadcasting Act protects CPB from this executive order.
However, the Trump administration is looking for loopholes.
“Now the question is how binding is it, and where are the weak spots in the beam?” Shepperd said. “And that's what they're testing right now.”
So public media is facing some existential threats, and if the Trump administration is successful in stripping its federal funding, there will be significant fallout.
Bennett: What do you think that fallout will look like?
Zander: Well, Shepperd says the organizations most likely to shut down altogether are those whose CPB funding make up a big portion of their overall budget.
That includes stations in really rural areas.
We’re a part of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio network, which includes a lot of small stations. We can’t speak on their behalf, but it’s fair to say some of them could be more vulnerable than say Colorado Public Radio.
While Aspen’s Breeze Richardson says this station is less reliant on CPB than others, she worries about the damage these efforts will do to the public media network as a whole.
For example, Shepperd thinks stations might plan for fewer programs with more repetition, more music, and even some stations selling their broadcast signals to commercial outlets.
It’s all speculative, but many stations are using this as a fundraising opportunity, including NPR itself.
Bennett: Well, Halle, thanks so much for your time and we’ll see what happens.
Zander: Thanks for having me.
