| Friend,
Last week, NPR announced that it plans to cut 10 percent of its staff to make up a budget shortfall of $30 million.1 The reason NPR’s chief executive gave for the layoffs is not the routine failure of Congress to fund public journalism at the level it needs, but a “sharp decline in our revenues from corporate sponsors.”
Say what?! Outlets like NPR and PBS — as well as the hundreds of local stations affiliated with them — receive a good portion of their funding in the form of private capital from individual contributors, foundations and corporations.
The result is a public-media system that is by definition not noncommercial. And that affects not just the future of journalism in the United States but our democracy as well.
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 is very clear on the matter. It was designed to set up a free and functional noncommercial media sector that could counterbalance the market-driven media that dominated the public sphere then as it dominates it now.
So what happened?
The newly established Corporation for Public Broadcasting was supposed to fund this antidote to profit-driven news and information. In the words of President Johnson, this was about offering public support for media that served a great purpose.
But such greatness is hard to achieve with Congress’ paltry annual offering to the CPB: At $465 million in FY 2022, the public allocation boils down to a little more than $1.40 per person in the United States. By comparison, the United Kingdom spends more than $81 per person and France more than $75 — and the spending figures are even higher in Denmark, Finland and Norway.2
Why? It’s a tale as old as time. Lawmakers here continue to believe that publicly funded media should remain subordinate to its corporate counterpart — and that the work of journalism is best suited to the private sector.
That doesn’t make sense. Commercial journalism has been in crisis for decades now,3 as popular news-consumption habits have changed and advertisers have had to find new ways to reach these consumers — including ways that don’t help fund the sorts of journalism that democracies need to stay healthy. Between 2008 and 2020, more than 1,000 U.S. newspapers ceased printing,4 and the number of newspaper newsroom employees shrank by more than half.5
As the commercial model for news production falters, we need to adequately fund noncommercial outlets like NPR so they aren't forced to mimic the for-profit news business. A 2021 study finds that more robust funding for public media strengthens a given country’s democracy.6 That’s worth fighting for.
How we’re responding
We’re not waiting on the sidelines, because this fight is too important. Here’s what Free Press Action is doing: - We proposed a new tax on digital advertising that would generate more than $2 billion annually to fund the kinds of innovative and trustworthy news communities need.
- We co-authored The Roadmap for Local News, an actionable plan to ensure that every U.S. community has access to necessary public-interest news and information.
- We’re supporting inventive local-news projects in New Jersey through the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a government-funded nonprofit that Free Press Action helped conceive and create.
- We helped pass legislation in California that dedicated $25 million to local reporting in underserved and underrepresented communities statewide.
- We’re advancing the fight for racial justice through our Media 2070 project.
If we’re serious about the future of journalism and civic information in the United States, we need to look locally for innovations in nonprofit news production, and abroad for examples of more robust ways to fund it. If you’re with Free Press Action in this fight, could you donate today to support our work to strengthen public media and local journalism?
Thank you for joining us in this critical work,
Timothy Karr
Senior Director of Strategy and Communications
Free Press Action
freepress.net
P.S. Did you know that Free Press Action doesn’t take a single cent from business, government or political parties? That means that generous donations from people like you make everything we do possible. Please consider donating today. Every gift matters as we work to defend press freedom, transform local journalism and protect public and community media.
1. “NPR to Cut 10% of Its Staff,” The New York Times, Feb. 22, 2023 2. “Do Countries with Better-Funded Public Media Also Have Healthier Democracies? Of Course They Do,” NiemanLab, Jan. 24, 2022 3. “The Future of Local News Innovation Is Noncommercial,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 18, 2022 4. “The Expanding News Desert,” Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina 5. “U.S. Newsroom Employment Has fallen 26% Since 2008,” Pew Research, July 13, 2021 6. “Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries,” Timothy Neff and Victor Pickard, Dec. 13, 2021  |
