First President Trump questioned the existence of National Public Radio in a tweet earlier this month. Then, as part of the annual budget request released last Monday, he recommended slashing federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the body that distributes taxpayer dollars to NPR and other public media outlets, to $0 by 2023.
The NY Times reports past budget proposals from Mr. Trump have apparently had little influence over the amounts that public media has received from the government. For the 2020 fiscal year, the White House recommended $30 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Congress, which has traditionally shown support for public media, ultimately decided on $465 million.
Although Congress controls how much federal money goes to public broadcasters, NPR is not taking the potential threat lightly. About 1 percent of its budget comes from federal money, but Mike Riksen, an NPR vice president, said the funding was “essential” to public radio.
The White House budgeted $30 million for public broadcasting in 2021. For 2022 — the last year of federal funding for public media, if the president got his way — Mr. Trump proposed $28 million.
Despite the lack of support from the administration, Paul G. Haaga Jr., a longtime Republican donor who is the chairman of NPR’s board of directors, said he believed public media was not in danger.
He recalled conversations that he’d had with Republican lawmakers soon after he joined the board. “They’d leaned over and say, ‘Don’t tell anybody in the caucus, but I love NPR and couldn’t live without it,’” Mr. Haaga said. “And I’d lean over and say, ‘Don’t tell anybody, but everybody in the caucus tells me that, too.’”
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