WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump’s FY 2027 budget has been released, and to the surprise of very few, it includes no dollars for local public television stations — even after a loss in a D.C. district court this week for his Executive Order which ended “taxpayer subsidization of biased media” by ending federal funding of both NPR and PBS by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or any government agency.
That led the President/CEO of America’s Public Television Stations to respond to the White House.
“America’s Public Television Stations are disappointed that President Trump’s FY 2027 budget proposal recommends no federal funding for the locally controlled public television stations that the American people rely on and support funding for, including 65% of people who voted for the President,” said APTS President/CEO Kate Riley. “Since all funding for local public media stations was rescinded last year, Americans in every community across the country, especially rural communities, have experienced a loss of essential services that only local, independent public television stations provide.”
Riley also pointed to two unnamed stations that have already announced their closures. She warned that with federal funding, many more local stations have been forced to eliminate or reduce local programs and services, “including proven educational services, local history programs, community event coverage, agricultural programming and local public affairs programming, among others. In addition, many stations have been forced to delay much needed infrastructure investments – risking programming and public safety services.”
For APTS, failing to restore the federal investment will cause further harm to the communities that depend on their local public media stations every day for public safety, education and community connections. “The public investment for public media is necessary so local stations can continue to be truly local media in communities big and small, urban and rural, on-air and online, and everything in between,” Riley said.
