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Politico

Frustration and fear ripple through NPR and PBS affiliates after Congress approves clawbacks

Representatives for Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson refuted claims that local NPR and PBS affiliates had remained nonpartisan, saying in a statement they had 'politicized their own coverage by relying on syndicated programming from their national org.' 'Democratic paper-pushers masquerading as reporters don't deserve taxpayer subsidies, and NPR and PBS will have to learn to survive on their own,' said White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields. 'Unfortunately for them, their only lifeline was taxpayer dollars, and that ended when President Trump was sworn in.' Scott Smith, general manager of Alleghany Public Radio which broadcasts to three counties on either side of the border of Virginia and West Virginia, said he reached out to Republican lawmakers from both states to try to preserve the 60 percent of his funding that comes from federal grants. Now, he blames Congress for targeting local stations to spite the national NPR and PBS networks. 'They do know that what they were doing was going to hurt us more than it's going to hurt NPR and PBS as a whole. Yet it was still done,' Smith said. 'So what conclusion does that bring you to, without any other data to the contrary, that this is political and personal in nature.' Kabler, who oversees the stations in Alaska, said she meets with Murkowski 'a couple times per year.' The senator attempted to introduce an amendment to the Senate bill that would protect funding for local public broadcasting while stripping it from NPR's and PBS' national operations, citing employees at KUCB — one of Kabler's stations — who she said earlier that afternoon had coordinated with local public officials to warn the community of an impending tsunami. The amendment failed. The public broadcasting audience in Alaska is 'mostly Republicans,' Kabler said. 'But our services are not about partisan politics, and the discussion of what people believe about PBS and NPR on the national level, that's not what we do. We're about local news and information.' Some public media staffers are hoping to take advantage of the grassroots networks used to rally support against the federal cuts to organize political opposition to Republicans who backed the bill. Kurt Mische, president of the PBS station based in Reno, Nevada, said he hopes the impact of gutting local NPR and PBS stations will be a motivating issue for voters in the 2026 midterms. 'I hope that everyone who believes in and supports the mission and vision and values of public broadcasting will keep this in mind when the next congressional election comes up,' Mische said. 'And we will help them connect the dots.'