“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” is written in the United States Constitution. Journalism was considered vital enough by the U.S. founding fathers to embed the right to a free press. Over 200 years later, that right still stands. However, it looks a little different.
On May 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order asking the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cut all funding to PBS and NPR to the extent allowed by U.S. law. This would cut funding to over 1,000 NPR affiliate stations and roughly 350 PBS stations. There have been challenges already made to this executive order, stating Congress is in control of where federal funding for public media goes, not the president. However, this is not the only issue facing public media.
Local media have been declining for some time. Since 2005, the U.S. has lost over one-third of its print newspapers, resulting in the loss of 3,200 newspapers. This is due to a variety of factors. Some left print behind in favor of digital news, and others could not keep up with rising production costs to keep them afloat. A decline in regular readers has also played a major role in this decrease of local media.
For many counties, public media, such as NPR and PBS, are the only available news sources. Without proper funding, these stations could shut down, leaving many Americans without local news. In 2024, the Medill School of Journalism reported that 206 counties in the U.S. have no news outlets, and 1,561 counties have only one.
If federal funding were to be cut, every station would be impacted, but rural communities would be hit the hardest. For many rural communities, the cost of maintaining news programs without the help of federal funding is too high to remain functional. This means that up to 60 million Americans living in rural areas could lose access to their only news source.
I know that hearing from a student journalist about the importance of local news may raise skepticism, but think about how much information we consume daily from journalists. Where do you get your daily weather forecasts? Where do you hear about traffic jams in your area? Who covers small elections? Which news sources dive into a community and tell the stories often forgotten amid national news? The answers to all these questions are local news stations.
Nonprofit organizations, such as Protect My Public Media, are advocating for the preservation of public media. Public media outlets like NPR and PBS have continued to push donations to help keep this vital service afloat. Now, more than ever, is the time to act.
Public journalism is, and always has been, vital to democracy. So, it is important that moving forward, we continue to fight for the preservation of the free press. Donate to local NPR affiliate stations, donate to your local PBS station and continue to consume news from your local outlets. Show these stations, and the country, that local reporting matters; journalism matters.