NPR has said it will challenge President Trump's executive order to defund public media. It's not clear yet what that challenge may entail.
Meanwhile, public broadcasters, including WGLT, are exploring additional funding sources as they see if that executive order — to stop Corporation for Public Broadcasting money from flowing to NPR and PBS — will stand.
WGLT Executive Director and NPR board member R.C. McBride says the order seems to run counter to the Public Broadcasting Act which led to the creation of the private, nonprofit CPB. It specifies the government shall have no control over broadcast content.
“I think there’s some pretty fundamental First Amendment issues at risk here,” McBride said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “Obviously, NPR is watching the situation develop very closely and preparing for what may come next.”
The Trump administration has claimed public broadcasters have an ideological bias and is using that as grounds for eliminating its funding as part of a nearly complete overhaul of federal government funding priorities.
WGLT Assistant Executive Director and Development Director Melissa Libert says it's unrealistic for added community support to entirely make up for a loss of federal funding. That would be about $175,000 annually if all federal funding was removed.
“It would be significant,” Libert said. “What we are worried about is that the attacks just keep coming.”
Libert says public broadcasters in Illinois are advocating for a bill in the state legislature to boost state funding to offset some or all of the federal funding that could be lost.
State Sens. Dave Koehler [D-Peoria] and Paul Faraci [D-Champaign] proposed the measure to issue $12 million in grants to Illinois public radio and television stations through the Illinois Arts Council. That measure was sent to the Appropriations Committee.
The state currently provides $1 million in funds to public media broadcasters in Illinois.
“Any increase in state funding would help offset in changes in federal funding that we would lose,” Libert said.
Federal funding makes up about 10% of WGLT's budget. For many stations in smaller markets, the percentage of federal funding is higher, which may make it more difficult for them to continue to operate, Libert said.
“We are worried about the potential for stations to close. It’s not about just the funding piece from the CPB that’s in jeopardy, but there will be a lot of ripple effects for all stations,” she said. “For every station like WGLT that’s able to make up for that with an increase in funding somewhere else, there will be a station that cannot.”
McBride added financial pressures for public media come at a time when many nonprofit organizations are struggling with financial uncertainty, due in part to federal budget cuts.
"There are a lot of other nonprofits that do excellent work that are in similar straits, maybe worse off at this point than we are. That's going to spread our donors out pretty thin," McBride said.
Much of CPB’s funding goes directly to NPR’s nearly 250 stations across the country. Those stations use that funding, in part, to purchase programming from NPR and other outlets.
The executive order specifies funding not be used for NPR and PBS. It’s not clear whether stations would be able to use that funding for other purposes.
“Maybe that’s the intention here, maybe not. I really don’t know, but I don’t think we should have to,” McBride said.
Libert said WGLT would not accept grants that would dictate news or programming changes.
McBride said WGLT is operating “business as usual for now,” but that several staff positions may remain unfilled in the short term.
“That’s the responsible course of action until we have some clarity on the situation,” McBride said.
While public broadcasters in Illinois lobby for additional state funding to withstand federal cuts, state lawmakers in Indiana recently stripped its funding for 17 public broadcasting stations.
