#NativeAmerican radio stations at risk as #USCongress looks to cut $1B in public broadcasting funding

By MARGERY A. BECK
Updated 12:06 AM EDT, July 16, 2025

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — "Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders.

"The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month.

" 'For Indian Country in general, 80% of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio,' said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. 'If the claw back happens, I would say a good 90% of those stations will cease to exist.'

"Native American communities rely on local radio stations

"Local radio plays an outsized role in the lives of many who live in Indigenous communities, where cable television and broadband internet access are spotty, at best, and nonexistent for many. That leaves over-the-air TV stations — usually a PBS station — and more often local radio to provide local news, community event details and music by Indigenous artists. Sometimes the news is delivered in Indigenous languages.

" 'It means we’re not going to hear our language on the radio,' Blythe-Lewis said.

"Flagstaff, Arizona-based #NativePublic #Media, which supports the network of 59 radio stations and three television stations serving tribal nations across the country, said about three dozen of those radio stations that rely heavily on Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding will be the first to go dark if funding is cut for the coming fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

"Loris Taylor, CEO of Native Public Media, said in an op-ed that the tribal stations reach more than 1.5 million people and 'may be the only source of locally relevant news, emergency alerts, public safety announcements, language preservation, health information and election coverage.'

Republicans face pressure to pass the cuts

"GOP senators are under pressure from President Donald Trump, who promised last week on his Truth Social platform that any Republican who votes against the cuts 'will not have my support or Endorsement.' "

"Many Republicans say the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, recently defended the cuts as necessary to hack away at the nearly $37 trillion national debt, adding, 'It is critical in restoring trust in government.'

"But some Republicans have pushed back, such as Maine Sen. #SusanCollins, who questioned the proposed cuts last month during a Senate committee hearing. She said that while some of the federal money is assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, most of it goes to locally owned public radio and television stations."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/congress-is-looking-to-cut-1b-in-public-broadcasting-funding-and-native-american-radio-stations-are-at-risk

#PublicRadio #CulturalGenocide #USSenate #BudgetCuts
#CPB #CPBFunding #PublicRadio #CommunityRadio #TrumpSucks #USPol #Censorship #Fascism #Authoritarianism

'If I wasn't here, people could die': Trump public media cuts could hit rural America

Thomas Copeland, BBC World Service
July 15, 2025

"A gale-force storm hit north-eastern #Alaska last winter. Residents of #Kotzebue, a town of about 3,000, are used to polar conditions, so Desiree Hagan still had to get to work.

" 'The snow was so intense you could not see in front of you,' Ms Hagan remembers. 'I was walking backwards to work.'

"Ms Hagan is a reporter at a public radio station, #KOTZ, which airs across Kotzebue and its 12 surrounding villages.
She also happens to be the only US journalist stationed inside the Arctic Circle, so as the storm intensified, she had to get on the air.

" 'It's go time, I have to report on this,' recalls Ms Hagan. 'We have to make sure we know where people can go. Oh, the electric is out. Okay, now the airport is flooded.'

" 'Winter is not a joke here, it is life and death,' she tells the BBC. 'As a reporter I try not to make emotional statements like, if I wasn't here, people could die, but that is a reality.'

"On the other side of the country in #WashingtonDC, however, a historic vote could bring federal support for KOTZ to an end.

"The Senate must decide by the end of the week whether to claw back $1.1bn (£800m) from the #CorporationForPublicBroadcasting, the body that distributes federal funding to public radio and television stations.

"While the #PublicMedia cuts are part of a broad spending package, which includes requests to rescind $8.3bn from the United States Agency for International Development and other foreign aid programmes, they are especially dear to President Donald Trump, who frequently accuses media of bias.

"The president has now threatened to pull his support from any Republican senator who does not support the cuts.

" 'It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,' Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday night.

"Executives at National Public Radio (#NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (#PBS) reject accusations of bias and say they abide by all journalistic standards.

"Republican voters, however, are about three times less likely than Democrats to consume or trust news coverage from either outlet, according to the Pew Research Center.

"While the cuts will affect national broadcasters like NPR and PBS, more than 70% of federal funding goes to local media stations and about 45% of the stations that received funding in 2023 are in rural areas.

"For half of those rural stations, federal grants made up a quarter or more of their revenue. At KOTZ in Kotzebue, public funding constitutes 41% of its income.

" 'By no means is it assured of being passed in the Senate, where many of the Republican senators represent rural states that really do benefit from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,' Democratic congressman Dan Goldman, co-chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, told the BBC World Service's Weekend programme.

"Republican Senator #LisaMurkowski of Alaska has said she opposes the cuts to public media stations, warning that "what may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska".
'Almost to a number, they're saying that they will go under if public broadcasting funds are no longer available to them,' Murkowski told a Senate hearing last month. "

Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20w51rkw4no?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/ltoA4