WASHINGTON — Daniel Tiger and NOVA would be off the air in Louisiana should the Trump administration and U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy succeed in their plans to g, local public media leaders say.
Kennedy, R-Madisonville, filed a bill in February to abolish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, famous for Julia Child, Fred Rogers, and Ken Burns documentaries.
He wants the measure included in the that Congress is about to consider.
Some Republicans have complained for years about what they see as bias against conservatives in public broadcasting.
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates what is seen on television and heard on the radio, recently launched an investigation into NPR and PBS underwriting. And the Department of Defense revoked NPR’s Pentagon press office access.
The White House is including cuts to public broadcasting assistance in its request to strike $9.3 billion in foreign aid and other programs, multiple national news outlets reported, citing an administration official granted anonymity to speak freely. Congress returns to Washington on April 28 and lawmakers have asked for detailed requests to give Congress more say in the cuts Trump is considering in his efforts to streamline government.
Supporters of public media argue that public broadcasting outlets, which operate on donations as well as taxpayer dollars rather than selling advertising, offer local and in-depth reporting.
What cuts could mean to Louisiana
Louisiana Public Broadcasting, LPB, is a state agency that receives most of its funding from the state general fund and from corporate and viewer donations, said C.C. Copeland, LPB’s president and chief executive officer. LPB is budgeted to receive $13.2 million from the state in the fiscal year that begins in July.
As the only statewide network, LPB is called whenever the Legislature convenes, for gubernatorial press conferences, when hurricanes threaten, and other events. LPB shares its broadcast with private stations.
LPB also provides educational programming that augments kindergarten through 12th grade teaching in schools and programming that homebound and homeless children can use to continue their education.
Removing the federal funding would end the programming that is funded by PBS. That means shows like NOVA, Frontline, and Finding Your Roots would be gone from airways in the state and probably other states as well, Copeland said.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting gives money to PBS, which gives that money to local stations. Louisiana receives about $2.5 million.
The stations then pay PBS dues to allow access to its programming. Louisiana pays about $2.4 million in dues. That money is then given as grants to the producers, who are also raising money from other sources to put together the individual programs.
“It’ll be a domino effect,” Copeland said. “If we can’t pay it and CPB doesn’t pay the other locals and they stop paying the dues, then PBS collapses.”
The lack of funding would mean the end of PBS’s children’s programming in Louisiana – cartoons such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, which teaches practical skills like being polite to adults and trying new foods, to children between the ages of two to five, Copeland said. PBS also is a primary funder for NOVA, the renowned science program.
Public radio stations in Louisiana don’t receive any state money.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds local public radio stations through National Public Radio. The amounts differ depending on the size and reach of the station.
For instance, WWNO in New Orleans receives about $220,000 a year and WRKF in Baton Rouge receives about $150,000, said Paul Maassen, general manager of WWNO and WRKF. For both stations, the money accounts for about 8% of the stations’ budgets.
The rest comes from individual donations, local business underwriters, and various grants from public and philanthropic sources, he said.
But WWNO and WRKF operate in large cities with lots of donors. For other stations, such as those that operate in rural areas, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting money can account for up to 40% of the budget.
Maassen said receiving the federal money helps with their fundraising efforts.
“It’s really a platform for the fundraising and it does helps with the operating funds for our local programming," he said. "The strength of what we do is local.”
He added, “If you cut CPB funding, that is going directly impact every local station across the country.”
Accusations of liberal bias
Kennedy said the federal government subsidizes public media to the tune of about $500 million annually. He noted that Louisiana has 318 radio stations, of which 10 get money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and 48 television stations, eight of which get federal money.
Kennedy argues that continuing taxpayer funding is wasteful spending when streaming, cable and other technologies provide plenty of programming.
He also contends that public broadcasting is biased.
On April 9, Kennedy showed a series of headlines during a speech on the Senate floor to prove his point.
One headline read “The Hidden Racism of Young White Americans.” It was a PBS news report from March 2015 about studies on relations between Blacks and Whites.
One the headlines he criticized was “How Illegitimate CRT concerns shaped Louisiana’s new social studies standards.” That was a nearly 8-minute report broadcast in April 2022 by WWNO in New Orleans.
The piece discussed Critical Race Theory, an academic framework to explain how systemic racism in the past influences the present, and how critics of the theory cited it in creating curriculum changes for Louisiana high schoolers.
“Now, look, you don’t have to be a Latin scholar to see that these articles are biased — every single one of them — at the federal level and at the state and local level in Louisiana,” Kennedy said. “And you know what, that’s the right of these state and local television stations. They have the right to say this stuff, but they don’t have the right to say it with your money.”
Maassen said, “I can’t tell you the number of stories we do. It’s a whole lot. Our goal is to provide different points of view. You’re not going to agree with everything you hear.”