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Winnipeg Free Press
7 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Center for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like 'Sesame Street' and 'Finding Your Roots,' said Friday that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding. The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small transition team will stay until January to finish any remaining work. The private, nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation. It now ends nearly six decades of fueling the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and emergency alerts about natural disasters. Here's what to know: Losing funding President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 24 canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting. The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense, and conservatives have particularly directed their ire at NPR and PBS. Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for some local public stations in their state. They warned some stations will have to close. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday reinforced the policy change by excluding funding for the corporation for the first time in more than 50 years as part of a broader spending bill. How it began Congress passed legislation creating the body in 1967, several years after then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow described commercial television a 'vast wasteland' and called for programming in the public interest. The corporation doesn't produce programming and it doesn't own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. The corporation, PBS, NPR are independent of each other as are local public television and radio stations. Rural stations hit hard Roughly 70% of the corporation's money went directly to 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country. The cuts are expected to weigh most heavily on smaller public media outlets away from big cities, and it's likely some won't survive. NPR's president estimated as many as 80 NPR stations may close in the next year. Mississippi Public Broadcasting has already decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children's programming like 'Caillou' and 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood' 24 hours a day. Maine's public media system is looking at a hit of $2.5 million, or about 12% of its budget, for the next fiscal year. The state's rural residents rely heavily on public media for weather updates and disaster alerts. In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22% from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides and volcanic eruptions. From Big Bird to war documentaries The first episode of 'Sesame Street' aired in 1969. Child viewers, adults and guest stars alike were instantly hooked. Over the decades, characters from Big Bird to Cookie Monster and Elmo have become household favorites Entertainer Carol Burnett appeared on that inaugural episode. She told The Associated Press she was a big fan. 'I would have done anything they wanted me to do,' she said. 'I loved being exposed to all that goodness and humor.' Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started 'Finding Your Roots' in 2006 under the title 'African American Lives.' He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees into slavery. When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa. Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed and the series was renamed 'Faces of America,' which had to be changed again after the name was taken. The show is PBS's most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination. Grant money from the nonprofit has also funded lesser-known food, history, music and other shows created by stations across the country. Documentarian Ken Burns, celebrated for creating the documentaries 'The Civil War,' 'Baseball' and 'The Vietnam War', told PBS NewsHour said the corporation accounted for about 20% of his films' budgets. He said he would make it up but projects receiving 50% to 75% of their funding from the organization won't. Influence of shows Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Children's programing in the 1960s was made up of shows like 'Captain Kangaroo,' ''Romper Room' and the violent skirmishes between 'Tom & Jerry.' 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' mostly taught social skills. 'Sesame Street' was designed by education professionals and child psychologists to help low-income and minority students aged 2-5 overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school. Social scientists had long noted white and higher income kids were often better prepared. One of the most widely cited studies about the impact of 'Sesame Street' compared households that got the show with those who didn't. It found that the children exposed to 'Sesame Street' were 14% more likely to be enrolled in the correct grade level for their age at middle and high school. Over the years, 'Finding Your Roots' showed Natalie Morales discovering she's related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean and former 'Saturday Night Live' star Andy Samberg finding his biological grandmother and grandfather. It revealed that drag queen RuPaul and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker are cousins, as are actors Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria. 'The two subliminal messages of 'Finding Your Roots,' which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we're a nation of immigrants,' Gates told the AP. 'And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we're 99.99% the same.'
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
U.S. Fed governor Adriana Kugler resigns before term's end, allowing Trump to name successor
The Federal Reserve said on Friday that Governor Adriana Kugler is resigning early from her term and will exit the central bank on Aug. 8, potentially shaking up what was already a fractious succession process for Fed leadership amid difficult relations with President Donald Trump. The Fed said in a statement that Kugler, who became a governor in September 2023, will leave before her term's conclusion, which was scheduled for Jan. 31, 2026. In a press release, the Fed said Kugler will return to Georgetown University as a professor next autumn. Kugler did not attend this week's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Kugler's early departure may shake up the timeline for the succession process now surrounding Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends next May. Trump has threatened to fire Powell repeatedly, believing interest rates should be much lower than they are. An open letter to President Trump: Your threats against Powell are unbecoming, dangerous and must stop Trump will now get to select a Fed governor to replace Kugler and finish out her term. Some speculation has centred on the idea Trump might pick a potential future chair to fill that slot as a holding place. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Fed appointment, although Trump said later he was happy to have an open slot to fill. 'I would not read any political motivation into what [Kugler is] doing, although the consequence of what she's doing is she's calling Trump's bluff,' said Derek Tang, an analyst at LH Meyer, a research firm. 'She's putting the ball in his court and saying, look, you're putting so much pressure on the Fed, and you want some control over nominees, well, here's a slot.' The mechanics of filling the soon-to-be open governor role have a number of moving parts that make it hard to say how Trump will approach finding a replacement for Kugler. Tang noted the president could even fill the position temporarily with a recess appointment while the Senate, responsible for confirming Board of Governors officials, is not in session. There's also some uncertainty about what would happen to someone quickly confirmed to the role given that the term ends early next year, although some Fed observers noted a governor can stay in office in an expired term until a replacement has been confirmed. Opinion: Trump's war on Fed Chair Jerome Powell could roil Canada – and your mortgage Over recent days, Trump's rhetoric about the Fed has remained heated – he called Powell on Friday 'a stubborn MORON' – but he appears to have backed away from his threats to fire the central bank leader. In a letter to Trump announcing her resignation, Kugler wrote 'I am proud to have tackled this role with integrity, a strong commitment to serving the public, and with a data-driven approach strongly based on my expertise in labor markets and inflation.' Kugler's time at the Fed was a challenging one as central bankers raised rates aggressively to combat high inflation pressures. Those high rates have put them in the crosshairs of Trump and have caused economic challenges, although inflation pressures have moved much closer to the central bank's 2% target. At the FOMC meeting this week, the Fed maintained its interest rate target range at between 4.25% and 4.5% as policy-makers stayed on the sidelines to see how Trump's aggressive regime of large import tax increases will affect the economy and inflation pressures. Two Fed officials opposed that stance and wanted a rate cut, worried that risks to the job market are rising and that the inflation threat posed by tariffs is transient. Trump fires head of U.S. employment data, claims weak jobs numbers were 'manipulated' The Fed's dissenters found some support for their concerns in the release Friday of weaker-than-expected jobs data that was particularly notable for downward revisions to prior month's job gains. Some Fed officials who spoke on Friday noted the report with concern but said they need to see more evidence the job market is running into trouble before changing their views on monetary policy. Trump reacted to the jobs data with a double-barrelled attack, hitting the Fed for not cutting rates while directing his staff to fire the commissioner of the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, claiming without evidence the hiring numbers had been rigged. Trump's move rattled markets and raised questions about the future integrity of one of the most important statistical reports financial markets rely upon.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Sask. premier advises Canada not to retaliate against new tariffs
WATCH: As U.S. President Donald Trump calls for higher tariffs, Sask. Premier Moe says Canada should not retaliate. Wayne Mantyka has the details.
