The Fiscal Year 2025 federal rescissions package eliminated more than $1 billion in public media funding. Some rural public broadcasting stations depend on federal funding for over 70% of their budgets.
The Fiscal Year 2025 federal rescissions package eliminated more than $1 billion in public media funding. Some rural public broadcasting stations depend on federal funding for over 70% of their budgets.
Keep Communities Informed and Connected
Supporting public media stations keeps trusted journalism, educational programming, and cultural storytelling accessible to everyone. To dive deeper into the state of public media—and how federal funding cuts are affecting people across the country—read our article: Preserving Public Media.
-
Federal support accounts for ~8-15% of the average local public radio or TV station’s budget — but for small, tribal, and rural stations, it can be 40–50% (NPR, 2025)
Over 250 rural stations rely on federal funding to stay on the air (PBS, 2025).
There are 213 counties in the US that are news deserts—meaning that $50 million Americans have little to no access to local news. (Northwestern University, 2025)
Some rural public broadcasting stations depend on federal funding for over 70% of their budgets. (US Senate, 2025)
Find Your Local Public Media Station
Find your local public media station and help ensure these essential services continue.