WASHINGTON—In response to President Trump’s 2027 fiscal year budget proposals that once again offer no funding for public media, Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations said that “failing to restore the federal investment will cause further harm to the communities that depend on their local public media stations.”
In a statement, Riley stressed that there is broad public support for funding local public stations and that 65% of the people who claim to have voted for the President support funding for “locally controlled public television stations that the American people rely on.”
“Since all funding for local public media stations was rescinded last year, Americans in every community across the country, especially rural communities, have experienced a loss of essential services that only local,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,” she said. “Two stations have already announced their closures and without 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.”
Riley also stressed the importance of the stations’ role in emergency alerts, public safety, education and local news.
“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,” she said. “These services are particularly critical in more rural areas, many of which have no other sources of local media…These services are essential for the American people and one of America’s best investments, which amounted to about $1.60 per person per year and was less than one 1/100th of a percent of the federal budget.”
The group also said that it will look “to Congress to respect the clear will of the American people, to honor the long history of bipartisan support for our work, and to restore the federal government’s investment in local public television stations’ essential missions of public safety, education and community connections in the upcoming FY 2027 appropriations process.”
