Tag: pbs

Arkansas will become first state to end PBS affiliation

Arkansas’ statewide public television network will end its affiliation with PBS starting in July 2026, the Arkansas Educational Television Commission announced this week.

The station, formerly known as Arkansas PBS, will also rebrand as Arkansas TV.

The commission cited a $2.5 million reduction in annual federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the cost of PBS membership fees as factors in its decision. A news release announcing the move called the dues “simply not feasible.”

Programming is expected to remain largely unchanged through June 30, 2026. After that date, the network plans to introduce locally produced programming, including children’s, food and history series currently in development, as well as “favorites from the last 60 years.”

“Public television in Arkansas is not going away,” Executive Director and CEO Carlton Wing said in the release. “In fact, we invite you to join our vision for an increased focus on local programming, continuing to safeguard Arkansans in times of emergency and supporting our K-12 educators and students. … We are confident that we can secure ongoing and increased support from individual donors, foundation partners and corporate sponsors who see the value in investing in new local programming that serves our state.”

PBS content will continue to be accessible to Arkansas residents through other platforms, Arkansas TV said.

In response to the announcement, a PBS spokesperson told Nexstar’s KNWA that Arkansas TV’s decision to end membership “is a blow to Arkansans who will lose free, over-the-air access to quality PBS programming they know and love.”

The spokesperson cited a June 2025 YouGov survey, which PBS said showed strong support for the network in the state. According to the company, the survey found a majority of survey participants opposed limiting funding for PBS and agreed that its programming was beneficial for children and the community.

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Watch Margaret Hoover’s Justice Kennedy Interview To See Why Trust In Media Is At Record Lows

If anyone is wondering why Americans’ trust in corporate media to report the news fairly and accurately is at the lowest level in recorded history, then watch PBS Firing Line host Margaret Hoover’s interview with retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Released last Friday, the roughly half-hour-long exchange was supposedly intended to focus on Kennedy’s recently released memoir about his life and time serving on the nation’s highest court. It’s very clear after watching the discussion, however, that Hoover had other plans in mind.

From beginning to end, it’s glaringly apparent that Hoover’s entire goal in speaking with Kennedy was to use the conversation as an opportunity to discredit the current Supreme Court and try and bait the retired justice into attacking Donald Trump, whose presidency she falsely portrayed as an authoritarian regime with no respect for the rule of law.

In her first query, Hoover asked Kennedy how he sees his “role” as a retired justice at a moment “when the rule of law is being tested and the courts are under attack.” The “question,” of course, isn’t really a question, but an accusation dressed up as a question.

Borrowing a trick used by fellow media hacks like CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, Hoover is dishonestly insinuating that it’s Trump who is “testing” the law like no president before him, and that his criticisms of lower courts for issuing overreaching edicts represent an unprecedented attack on the judiciary. It’s probably safe to assume that this insinuation doesn’t include Democrats like Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer actually threatening SCOTUS, left-wing anarchists picketing outside Republican-appointed justices’ homes, or a trans-identifying leftist attempting to assassinate Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

While this was only the first “question,” feigning ignorance about Democrats’ egregious conduct and actions would go on to become a prominent feature of Hoover’s style throughout the rest of the interview.

While quoting from Kennedy’s book about the need for all branches of government to exercise their powers in accordance with the Constitution, the CNN contributor said matter-of-factly to Kennedy, “In recent weeks, we have seen the Department of Justice indict two of the president’s political enemies after he publicly demanded it,” and “We’ve seen National Guard troops be sent to states over governors’ objections. The president has repeatedly pushed the limits of the law.”

“Is the executive branch exercising its powers to the extreme?” Hoover asked, while completely ignoring how Biden’s Justice Department attempted to imprison Trump before the 2024 election, sought (and acquired) jail time for former Trump officials, targeted and arrested Christians and pro-lifers, and much more.

The Firing Line host similarly lied by omission when she asked Kennedy about what would happen “if one of the branches — for example, the executive branch — doesn’t choose to follow the Supreme Court?”

“I don’t know that we’ve ever had this,” Hoover said, insinuating that Trump is going to “defy” SCOTUS if it rules on a case in a way he doesn’t like.

Well, as much as it would disappoint Margaret to learn, America actually has “had this” happen — under Biden. When the Supreme Court declared the Biden administration’s student loan bailout to be unconstitutional, the administration tried time and again to sidestep the ruling, disregarding the high court’s decision without a second thought.

Yet, for all her supposed newfound respect for the Supreme Court, Hoover tried her best to discredit it.

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The USAID Of Broadcasting: PBS Parent Company Funnels Tax Dollars To Cushy Lobbying Firm

When DOGE dug into the financial tentacles of USAID, it found troubling examples of overspending and funding of unchecked, woke programs outside the agency’s mission. At the now defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) a similar Gordian knot of spending patterns has diverted millions of dollars from broadcasting content to the public, enriched elite nonprofit leaders, and wedged public television (PBS) and public radio (NPR) into producing left-leaning content.

With the passing of the Big Beautiful Bill, Congress gave CPB no funding at all — a shock for CPB, which was expecting $1.07 billion for 2026 and 2027.

As The Federalist previously reported, CPB is a nonprofit created by Congress in 1967 to administer funding for public radio and television stations. It has many highly paid employees in Washington, D.C., and an elderly CEO, Patricia Harrison, 86, who received $524,000 in compensation in 2022, according to the CPB’s most recently available 990 tax exempt form.

CPB announced on Aug. 1 that it will both “wind-down” operations and advocate for Congress to restore funding. The defunding will be felt by the many nonprofits that received money from CPB or that exist because of public broadcasting. One of them is the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS).

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Corporation For Public Broadcasting Begins “Winding Down” As Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda Machine Crumbles

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced Friday afternoon that it will begin winding down operations after Congress stripped its funding from the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill, the first time in over half a century of operations. Recall lawmakers passed sweeping cuts, and President Trump signed off on slashing funding for the public broadcaster network, which has been infected with far-left misinformation and disinformation propaganda. 

“For nearly 60 years, CPB has carried out its Congressional mission to build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country. Through partnerships with local stations and producers, CPB has supported educational content, locally relevant journalism, emergency communications, cultural programming, and essential services for Americans in every community,” CPB wrote in a statement. 

What’s laughable is that CPB claimed above that its mission is to “build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country.” That was abandoned years ago as taxpayer dollars increasingly funded biased news coverage. There’s no reason for the public to foot the bill for leftist PR operations masquerading as “news” or other media content. 

For context, CPB is a nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 under the Public Broadcasting Act. It serves as the primary federal funding vehicle for public broadcasting networks nationwide. Congress’ rescinding of $1.1 billion in CPB funding marks a significant blow to the left-leaning public broadcaster network, namely PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio)

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Congressional Cuts To PBS, NPR Could Unravel Leftist Propaganda Nodes Nationwide 

The Republican-controlled House delivered the final blow with a 216-213 vote on Thursday night to eliminate $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports leftist propaganda networks such as NPR, PBS, and affiliated stations nationwide. Attached to the bill was also an $8 billion cut targeting the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has been accused of corruption.

The New York Times penned an article for its readers, offering multiple graphics that paint a grim picture of areas nationwide at risk of losing access to public radio and television. What the NYT fails to acknowledge is that the $1.1 billion in funding cuts to NPR, PBS, and affiliated stations represent a major blow to the leftist propaganda matrix—in other words, the information war of misinformation and disinformation waged by the left is about to crack a whole lot more.

“Failing stations will create a cascade effect in this highly connected and interdependent system, impacting content producers and leading to the potential collapse of additional distressed stations in other areas of the country,” Tim Isgitt, CEO of advisory firm Public Media Company, told the NYT.

Let the dominoes fall—this development could trigger a mass unraveling of the government-funded propaganda nodes nationwide that have brainwashed millions of Americans with toxic wokeism.  

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Low IQ Jasmine Crockett Says USAID Is Vital To Fund Sesame Street In Iraq… Or Something

Idiocracy-a-like Democrat Jasmine Crockett argued during a hearing that USAID, the slush fund decimated by DOGE, is desperately needed in order to fund US propaganda in places like Iraq to ensure Islamists there don’t become radicalised against America.

Yes, really.

Crockett claimed that past programs including a version of Sesame Street that was made for Iraq are vital to national security, suggesting “This is so that there is not this warped thought process about the Western world.”

What in God’s name is she on about?

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PBS Reporter Calls Rioting “Almost Festival Like”

The legacy media is still at it. 

Everyone knows that for four days unhinged leftists and criminal opportunists caused anarchy in LA, rioting, attacking police and looting stores. Yet the media is still proclaiming everything is not only peaceful, but happy and joyful.

They’ve had reporters on the ground standing in front of burning cars with explosions going off around them while claiming it’s all ‘mostly peaceful’, ‘fun’, ‘joyful’, ‘pretty quiet’, ‘relatively mellow’, ‘celebratory’ and all about ‘hope and community’.

Now here’s the latest from PBS. It’s “almost festival like” while flashbangs explode right next to this moron.

Note how they always say “almost.” 

It’s almost festival like, but not quite because of all the burning cars, assaults and looting.

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Trump terminates NPR, PBS federal funding with sweeping executive order

President Trump signed an executive order late Thursday terminating federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

NPR and PBS, which have long been targeted for cuts by conservatives, both receive partial funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which the president argued is unnecessary in the current media environment.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” Trump wrote in the order.

“The CPB Board shall cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration’s policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage,” he added. “The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”

Trump further directed the CPB to end indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by “ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.” 

The president gave the CPB until June 30 to effectuate his directive. 

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FCC’s Brendan Carr Advances Investigation into NPR, PBS Running ‘Prohibited’ Ads

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr advanced his investigation into NPR and PBS running “prohibited” commercials.

Carr ordered an investigation in early January into the taxpayer-funded NPR and PBS, believing the nonprofits are running commercials that they are barred from airing.

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” Carr wrote at the time. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

Public broadcasting stations are prohibited from running commercials, and instead they often air corporate underwriting spots, which cannot issue a “call to action” to urge listeners to purchase a product or service.

An FCC source said, at the end of last week, the agency sent out 15 letters of inquiry, two to NPR and PBS, and 13 letters to their affiliates, seeking to know more about their advertising and prospective underwriting practices.

Some of these stations include WETA, the Washington, DC, PBS station, WAMU, the American University NPR local affiliate in the D.C. area, and WNYC, a New York City NPR affiliate in the Big Apple.

“For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace,” Carr continued.

This is not the only inquiry the FCC has taken since Carr has led the telecommunications regulatory agency.

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Senator John Kennedy Blasts Continued Funding of “Public” Media NPR and PBS: “Gravy Train with Biscuit Wheels”

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) had harsh criticism for taxpayers funding “public” leftist propaganda outlets such as National Public Radio, the Corporation Public Broadcasting, and the Public Broadcasting System.

Kennedy called the scheme more just a “gravy train” but a “gravy train with biscuit wheels.”

In November, video footage of NPR CEO Katherine Maher from an August 2021 Ted Talk reappeared on X, sparking new debate over the taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s alleged bias.

In the 10-second clip, Maher questioned the role truth plays in the industry as the then-CEO of Wikimedia. She took over as CEO of NPR in March 2024.

Maher told the crowd, “I think our reverence for the truth might have become a bit of a distraction that is preventing us from finding consensus and getting important things done.”

Elon Musk weighed in on the video asking if taxpayer funds should be used for an organization headed by someone who thinks the truth is a “distraction.”

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