We Must Save Public Media to Change It

Published in The Nation:

The US public media system is under a multi-pronged attack from a hostile government. It’s under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for purportedly airing commercials, and by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently led a congressional hearing—dubbed the “Anti-American Airwaves”—to target what she claims is public media’s liberal bias. Meanwhile, rumors and threats abound that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has put funding for public broadcasting squarely in its crosshairs.

Government attacks on public media are as old as Big Bird. Ever since Richard Nixon feuded with public broadcasting during its earliest days, every Republican administration, except Gerald Ford’s, has tried to cut public media funding. But the severity of today’s attacks is different. The ruthless savagery that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are inflicting against what’s left of the US public sector suggests that this time they might succeed where previous efforts fell short.

With these existential threats looming, now is an opportune moment to reflect on why we created public media in the first place—and why it’s still needed today. Interrogating the history of US public media also brings into focus the structural problems that were present since its inception: Because we never provided it with adequate, permanent, and insulated funding, the US public media system has always been politically and economically vulnerable. This is a fixable problem that we must confront—after defending what we still have against trumped-up charges.

Read more here: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/public-broadcasting-media-democracy/