{"id":853396,"date":"2025-06-04T19:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T00:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/the-maga-war-on-pbs-was-never-about-money\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T19:12:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T00:12:01","slug":"the-maga-war-on-pbs-was-never-about-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/the-maga-war-on-pbs-was-never-about-money\/","title":{"rendered":"The MAGA war on PBS was never about money"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nearly 30 years, \u201cArthur<\/a>\u201d has taught young children about problem-solving and appreciating their peers\u2019 differences. The show’s bespectacled title character is a gentle 8-year-old aardvark who spreads the joy of getting along with others. So if you haven\u2019t been keeping up with current events, his militant stance in a recent social media post might have surprised you.<\/p>\n

Shortly after President Donald Trump<\/a> released his executive order calling on Congress to rescind $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an image of Arthur\u2019s curled fist appeared on the show\u2019s Instagram account under the heading, \u201cWhen they come for PBS.\u201d<\/p>\n

An animated clip of Arthur\u2019s sister D.W. on her bike followed a week later, exclaiming, \u201cWe ride at dawn for PBS . . . Who\u2019s riding with us?\u201d<\/p>\n

To paraphrase one of the account\u2019s followers, you know the situation is bad when Arthur is resorting to violence.<\/p>\n

That commenter posted that in jest, but the underlying sentiment is accurate. This is as severe an existential crisis for the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio as anyone raised on a children\u2019s programming diet of \u201cArthur,\u201d \u201cSesame Street\u201d and other public TV shows has seen in our lifetimes.<\/p>\n

You know the situation is bad when Arthur is resorting to violence.<\/p>\n

Among the certainties of American life beyond death and taxes is the guarantee that any Republican administration will reopen hunting season on gentle PBS Kids characters. When former Utah senator Mitt Romney led the charge in 2012, he placed Big Bird in his sights. In 2005, Congress threatened to cut $100 million out of the CPB budget after an episode of \u201cPostcards from Buster<\/a>,\u201d Arthur\u2019s forebear, featured the child of a same-sex couple in Vermont.<\/p>\n

Conservatives have been gunning for PBS since it began broadcasting in 1970, but they haven’t had the political means to succeed until now.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order titled \u201cEnding Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media<\/a>\u201d on May 1 followed March\u2019s House <\/strong>Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency<\/a> <\/strong>hearing, chaired by Rep.\u00a0Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a>, R-Ga. In that televised sideshow, Greene accused PBS of \u201csexualizing and grooming children.\u201d As alleged proof, she held up a large glamour shot of a drag performer, Lil Miss Hot Mess, who was featured in an April 2021 segment for \u201cLet\u2019s Learn<\/a>,\u201d an educational show produced by the WNET group and the New York City Department of Education.<\/p>\n

That segment only aired locally, but the photo made for an effective prop in this anti-inclusion political environment targeting the queer community, especially transgender people. Most of the hearing involved Greene and her GOP allies on the subcommittee denouncing PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger and NPR\u2019s president and CEO Katherine Maher for allegedly peddling political bias.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The subcommittee\u2019s Democrats countered with jokes about Elmo<\/a>\u00a0and other \u201cSesame Street<\/a>\u201d characters. Only Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a>, D-Calif., referenced the popular PBS Kids series \u201cDaniel Tiger\u2019s Neighborhood,\u201d with a purpose that laid bare the hypocrisy of his colleagues’ allegations.<\/p>\n

In questioning Mike Gonzalez<\/a>, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow supporting the far-right\u2019s defunding calls, it became obvious that he has no idea what type of programming airs on PBS Kids or, for that matter, PBS in general.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez couldn\u2019t tell Khanna, for example, that \u201cDaniel Tiger\u2019s Neighborhood\u201d is a spinoff of \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/a>.\u201d This is an odd detail to forget from the man who made the case for defunding public media in \u201cProject 2025\u2019s Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise<\/a>.\u201d After calling defunding public media \u201cgood policy and good politics\u201d in that document, Gonzalez declares that the content that runs on NPR and PBS is \u201cnoneducational.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone watching this travesty play out on Capitol Hill knows that these actions have nothing to do with protecting or nurturing kids. It’s about punishing the poor to score political points with the wealthy. A ProPublica report titled \u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s War on Children<\/a>\u201d lists the many ways this administration is failing children. Among them: Federal employees working for Child Protective Services have been dismissed. Proposed Medicaid cuts would cut access to health care in schools and foster care for lower and middle-income families.<\/p>\n

In April, the administration withheld nearly $1 billion in federal grants<\/a> to Head Start centers nationwide, a year-over-year decline of 37%, resulting in layoffs and regional office closures.<\/p>\n

The MAGA attacks on public media are part of this assault. Public radio and TV level the informational playing field, and\u00a0to an administration devoted to controlling<\/a> what Americans learn and think, that is a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” (PBS\/The Fred Rogers Company)<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Kerger has said many times, including in an interview the New York Times published Friday<\/a>, half of the content PBS provides is for kids under the age of 5. That includes early learning material available for parents and educators on the PBS Kids website, \u00a0which has been shown in studies<\/a> to help children between 2 and 8 years of age make measurable progress in literacy and math. (Salon has also reached out to PBS to request an interview with Kerger.)<\/p>\n

Conservatives have accused PBS and NPR of liberal bias in their news and documentary coverage since Richard Nixon was in office.<\/p>\n

Since PBS reaches an estimated 99% of the country\u2019s broadcast viewers, that gives every child free access to high-quality educational content. That accessibility may be one of the reasons that 43% of respondents to a recent Pew Research survey<\/a> said NPR and PBS should continue to receive federal funding. This includes Democrats and Republicans. (33% say they are not sure.)<\/p>\n

The conservative argument for cutting taxpayer funds to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting hasn\u2019t changed much over the years, even down to the scapegoats. There is always the question of what public media is doing that isn\u2019t being accomplished on cable and, now, streaming services and podcasts. Usually, the Heritage Foundation has led the chorus asking some version of this query.<\/p>\n

So when Gonzalez wrote in his Project 2025 entry, \u201cUnlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,\u201d he wasn\u2019t saying anything many others haven\u2019t said before.<\/p>\n

Conservatives have accused PBS and NPR of liberal bias in their news and documentary coverage since Richard Nixon was in office. But they seem to take a special pleasure in using PBS\u2019 children\u2019s programming as a political wedge.<\/p>\n

If PBS were denied taxpayer money, wouldn\u2019t cable programming on Nick Jr., Disney, and content streaming services like Netflix, Paramount+ and HBO Max fill their absence? Aren\u2019t toddlers turning to influencers like Ms. Rachel on YouTube more than, say, \u201cAlma\u2019s Way\u201d on PBS?<\/p>\n

Besides, isn\u2019t HBO producing \u201cSesame Street\u201d these days? (In short, no.)<\/p>\n

Sesame Street’s Zoe, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster under a “123 Sesame Street” sign at the “Sesame Street” 40th Anniversary temporary street renaming in Dante Park on November 9, 2009 in New York City (Astrid Stawiarz\/Getty Images)<\/strong><\/p>\n

These presumptions are continuations of the decades-old insistence that public media should be privatized. They also reveal a general lack of knowledge about how public media works, to say nothing of the examples playing out in the news<\/a> that illustrate why billionaire media owners<\/a> cannot be trusted to refrain from interfering<\/a> with their outlets\u2019 editorial decisions.<\/p>\n

The CPB is independent of the government, established by\u00a0Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967<\/a> as a private, nonprofit corporation. It does not produce programming or own, operate, or control any public broadcasting stations, its mission states. This is to ensure the editorial independence of member stations and shield PBS, NPR, and local producing stations like WGBH and WNET from political pressure.<\/p>\n

Federal dollars flowing to PBS through the CPB amount to around 15% of the broadcast service\u2019s overall funding, most of which goes to its more than 330 member stations, which pay licensing fees for programming and dues to PBS. This, along with corporate sponsorships, comprises the bulk of its funding.<\/p>\n

And while $1.1 billion is an eye-popping number, breaking down to $535 million per year through 2027, since the CPB is forward-funded, the cost per taxpayer breaks down to around $1.60 per year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Streaming service subscriptions cost several times that amount per month, and they do not support your local market\u2019s news and cultural programming. Nor do they contribute to local stations to help offset infrastructure costs. The CPB designates 6% of its funding for that purpose<\/a>, most of which benefits rural stations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration and the Republican-dominated Congress aren\u2019t the only entities threatening public media. Trump\u2019s appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr<\/a> is investigating whether PBS and NPR violated government rules by identifying their programming underwriters on the air.<\/p>\n

One day after Trump called for the CPB\u2019s defunding, the U.S. Department of Education terminated its $23 million Ready To Learn grant<\/a>. Historically, this grant has helped fund \u201cReading Rainbow<\/a>,\u201d “Clifford the Big Red Dog<\/a>” and \u201cSesame Street.\u201d The current grant contributed to producing shows like \u201cMolly of Denali,\u201d credited in two studies involving children from low-income households for improving their ability to solve problems using informational text.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Molly of Denali” (PBS\/WGBH)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cInformational text is a fundamental part of literacy,\u201d the Education Development Center<\/a> (EDC)\u00a0explains in a statement about the study\u2019s findings. \u201cComprehending informational text paves the way for future learning, particularly in social studies and the sciences, and success in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a recent statement to the New York Times<\/a>, a Department of Education spokesperson claimed the Ready To Learn grants were funding \u201cracial justice educational programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Department of Education will prioritize funding that supports meaningful learning and improving student outcomes, not divisive ideologies and woke propaganda,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMolly of Denali\u201d is the first nationally distributed children\u2019s TV show to feature Indigenous main characters. Earlier this month, its team announced that PBS Kids is not commissioning another season of the WGBH-produced show, making the next season its last for the time being, according to Alaska public TV station KTOO. <\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the myth that HBO owns \u201cSesame Street,\u201d that was never the case. HBO struck a deal with Sesame Workshop in 2015 to bring first-run \u201cSesame Street\u201d episodes to the channel and its streaming service, now retitled HBO Max, as of 2020. PBS then re-airs those episodes nine months later.<\/p>\n

The current 55th season of \u201cSesame Street\u201d is the final run of its HBO first-run partnership, which Warner Bros. Discovery decided not to renew last year. The streamer will continue to host its episodic catalogue through 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although production on the 56th season is underway, \u201cSesame Street\u201d is still searching for a distributor. Quite a different reality than the one Gonzalez assures his readers of in Project 2025, where he quotes what fellow conservative George Will wrote in 2017. \u201cIf \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 programming were put up for auction,\u201d Will opined in The Washington Post<\/a>, \u201cthe danger would be of getting trampled by the stampede of potential bidders.\u201d<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> On Monday, May 19 Netflix announced that it would be the streaming home of the new 56th season of “Sesame Street,” along with 90 hours of previous episodes. Additionally, the new episodes will be available day-and-date on PBS stations and PBS Kids digital platforms, “continuing its 50+ year legacy of using the power of public television to bring critical early learning to children across the country for free.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a>, Crash Course.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

There\u2019s plenty of reason to trust what Sesame Workshop Vice President Sal Perez recently assured the Associated Press<\/a>, that the home of Elmo, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird will never go away. Conservatives have long reassured wavering politicians by saying the same of PBS and NPR if the CPB were to be hollowed out. And that is true, to a point. Stations in wealthier markets will continue to exist, but member stations in less populated areas \u2013 many of them in red states \u2013 will significantly diminish or close.<\/p>\n

NPR reported<\/a> that last week, around 190 officials from local stations nationwide headed to Washington, D.C. to strategize and meet with lawmakers. Meanwhile, the CPB sued the Trump administration<\/a> in late April in response to his attempt to fire three of its five board members. (The corporation usually operates with a nine-member board; four of its seats currently sit vacant.)<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss slowed down Trump\u2019s effort to assert his control over the CPB on Wednesday, informing its board to proceed with business as usual until he renders a decision.<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, has yet to submit his formal request to Congress to cancel the federal funds meant for public broadcasting. That means there\u2019s still an opportunity for the public to lobby their representatives and contribute to their local stations.<\/p>\n

At least one Republican Senator from the home state of \u201cMolly of Denali\u201d intends to continue supporting public media. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, shared a letter supporting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting<\/a> on her website and in a regional newspaper. Alaska\u2019s local stations received $12 million from CPB last year, Murkowski said, accounting for anywhere from 30-70 percent of their overall budgets, and equating to roughly 0.00018 percent of all federal spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only would a large portion of Alaska communities lose their local programming, but warning systems for natural disasters, power outages, boil water advisories, and other alerts would be severely hampered,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWhat may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let’s hope she and Arthur aren\u2019t alone in that view.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Melanie McFarland
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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