Statement from CPB on the President’s FY 2019 Budget Proposal Eliminating Funding for Public Media
Washington, D.C. (February 12, 2018) — Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), made the following statement regarding the President’s proposed FY 2019 budget, which would rescind all but $15 million of each FY 2019 and FY 2020 funding for public media.
“Americans place great value on having universal access to public media’s educational and informational programming and services, provided commercial free and free of charge. Since there is no viable substitute for federal funding that would ensure this valued service continues, the elimination of federal funding to CPB would at first devastate, and then ultimately destroy public media’s ability to provide early childhood content, life-saving emergency alerts, and public affairs programs.
Public media benefits all Americans – whether they live in small towns, rural communities, or large urban areas. Americans rely on public media for high-quality educational and informational programs that are proven to get their children ready to learn, and that provide opportunities for lifelong learning, such as FRONTLINE, NOVA, Nature, and American Experience. Federal funding allows public media to continue to tell America’s changing story in a way that enhances civic engagement and connects us to one another.
Our nation’s non-commercial public media is made possible by a uniquely American, entrepreneurial, public-private partnership. Federal funding is the foundation of that partnership and a recognition of the proven benefits delivered to the American people through public media. The partnership continues with local stations doing their part, working with their communities to complete the funding process.
We will continue to raise awareness in Congress and the Administration about the valued content and services local public television and radio stations provide to their communities and the vital role federal funding plays in supporting them.”