Tag Archive for: Talk Radio

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Votes to Dissolve amid Defunding Battle

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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s (CPB) Board of Directors voted to officially dissolve the organization on Monday. According to a press release, the decision comes in response to moves from the Trump administration and within Congress to pull its federal funding.

Nearly 60 years ago, authorized by the U.S. Congress under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, CPB’s roots trace back to a time when commercial broadcasting dominated the airwaves, and there was a push for alternatives that prioritized education and public service over profit. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Act aimed to create a system free from political interference, emphasizing “strict adherence to objectivity and balance.” Over the years, federal appropriations formed the backbone of CPB’s budget, often exceeding $400 million annually in recent decades, with peaks around $525 million before the cuts — with roughly 70% of funds distributed to local stations.

However, in May 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to terminate federal funding for public media outlets such as CPB on the grounds that its reporting failed to be “fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan.” Only months later, the Senate passed the Rescissions Act of 2025, effectively cutting $9.4 billion in federal funding flowing to CPB and its affiliates. This included $1.1 billion specifically earmarked for public broadcasting through fiscal years 2026 and 2027. This rescission package, which also targeted foreign aid, passed along largely party lines, with Republicans arguing that taxpayer dollars should not subsidize what they (and many others) perceived as ideologically slanted content.

In response, CPB had sued the Trump administration as it began scaling down its operations — and to no avail, it would seem, in light of their final decision announced Monday. The dissolution process, set to conclude by late January 2026, involves “the responsible distribution of all remaining funds in accordance with Congress’s intent” as well as the preservation of archives in partnership with institutions like the University of Maryland and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

The organization ultimately pinned the blame on “sustained political attacks that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended.” As Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, put it, “When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

Echoing this, Chair of CPB’s Board of Directors Ruby Calvert claimed “what has happened to public media is devastating,” adding that “after nearly six decades of innovative, educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it.”

Calvert ultimately expressed optimism that “public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children’s education, our history, culture and democracy to do so.” As Harrison went on to claim, “public media remains essential to a healthy democracy.” The corporation’s statement concluded: “While CPB’s chapter is ending, the mission of public media endures. Local stations, producers, journalists, and educators across the country will continue serving their communities, informing the public, and elevating local voices.”

The news of closure has sparked a variety of responses nationwide. While CPB officials and their supporters are lamenting the loss of what they describe as “trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling,” many others have taken to celebrating. Conservatives, from government officials to everyday citizens, have argued that the closure does not diminish these values but instead advances them by moving away from what they see as an organization that pushed left-wing, government-funded content. And these sentiments echo long-standing criticisms that date back to Republican officials like former President Ronald Reagan and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who attempted similar defunding efforts but were thwarted by Congress.

Fast forward to now, and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins observed how “this is a very significant development. The end of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting signals that real structural change is underway in Washington.” As he further emphasized, “Kudos to the Trump administration. Its defunding strategy is dismantling decades of the Left’s entrenched infrastructure within government. Too often, Republican administrations merely hit the pause button on the Left’s projects — allowing them to resume the moment power changes hands. The Trump administration, by contrast, is hitting the eject button.”

Several members of Congress echoed these remarks, with Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) stating, “The closure of the [CPB] comes on the heels of a tenure dedicated to censorship and leftist ideologies. The organization garnered our tax dollars and made products through NPR and PBS that lacked competitive viewership and undermined American values and free speech.” Similarly, Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) referred to CBS as “the scheme bureaucrats used to funnel taxpayer money to NPR and PBS,” emphasizing how its closure is “great news for every American who doesn’t want their tax dollars funding left-wing opinion journalism EVER again.”

As public media transitions to reliance on private donations and other revenue streams, some fear a fragmented media landscape. Others, however, view it as an opportunity for more trustworthy news and storytelling, with less government influence, to finally take the stage.

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2026 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Public Trust in Mainstream Media Falls to New Low

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Nine months into President Donald Trump’s second administration, the American public’s trust in mainstream media has cratered to an all-time record low. According to a Gallup poll published Thursday, a mere 28% of Americans say that they trust mainstream media a “great deal” or a “fair amount” to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly, down from 31% last year. Meanwhile, 36% of Americans say that they have little trust in the media and 34% say that they have no trust in the media at all, totaling 70% who simply do not trust mainstream media outlets.

Age and political affiliation play a role in predicting trust in mainstream media, according to Gallup. Only 8% of Republicans say that they trust mainstream media, the first time that Gallup has recorded single digits in it’s 53 years of studying the question, and 62% of Republicans say that they don’t trust mainstream media at all. Among Independent voters, 27% report trusting mainstream media, 38% say that they have very little trust, and 32% report no trust at all. Democrats are the only political group with a majority (51%) expressing trust in mainstream media. Only 9% of Democrats say that they don’t trust mainstream media at all.

When examined by age, those aged 65 or older have the highest rate of trust in mainstream media at 43%, while only 28% of those aged between 50 and 64 and those aged between 18 and 29 express trust in media. Those aged between 30 and 49 reported the lowest level of trust in media at only 23%. Republicans of all age groups have the lowest rate of trust in mainstream media: 12% among those aged 18 to 29, 6% among those aged 30 to 49, 8% among those aged 50 to 64, and 17% among those aged 65 or older.

Among Independent voters aged 18 to 29, trust in mainstream media stands at 29%, at 24% among Independent voters aged 30 to 49, at 23% among Independent voters aged 50 to 64, and at 42% among Independent voters aged 65 or older. Democrats aged 18 to 29 trust mainstream media at a rate of 38%, at a rate of 42% among Democrats aged 30 to 49, at a rate of 59% among Democrats aged 50 to 64, and at a rate of 69% among Democrats aged 65 or older.

“Confidence in the mass media is historically low, with fewer than three in 10 Americans now placing trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, fairly and accurately,” Gallup senior editor Megan Brenan wrote of the statistics. “With confidence fractured along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for news organizations is not only to deliver fair and accurate reporting but also to regain credibility across an increasingly polarized and skeptical public.”

Tim Graham, an executive editor with the Media Research Center’s (MRC’s) NewsBusters, said in comment to The Washington Stand, “Trust in the media has collapsed because everyone has figured out the media now exist to elect Democrats and destroy Donald Trump.” He continued, “They’ve sought not merely to defeat him politically — they’ve sought to bankrupt him and put him in jail for the rest of his life. Their toxic ardor against Trump has led most people to see them for the partisans they are.”

“Everyone knows the media play on the team of the Democrats, which is why Democrats trust them most. But even there, Democrat numbers are lower, because they’re apparently not pro-Democrat enough, just as many Democrats think their national leaders aren’t doing enough to destroy Trump,” Graham posited. “Part of the decline in trust isn’t just the bias. It’s that the press has undercut the credibility of all the other institutions in society, leading to an overarching cynicism that comes back to bite them,” he observed. “But their arrogance about how they are saving democracy daily clearly suggests cynicism is in order.”

According to a June 26 report from the MRC, mainstream media outlets CNN, MSNBC, and PBS used variations of the label “far right” over 1,200 times between Trump’s inauguration and June 21, compared to only 86 mentions of the “far left.” Additionally, despite days-long riots targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and multiple assassination attempts against Trump the previous year, mainstream media outlets were 5.5 times more likely to associate political violence with the “far right” than the “far left.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Media Goes Full Damage Control On Major Scandal That Could Cost Dems Key Election

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

PODCAST: Speaker Johnson Exposes Democrats’ CR Misinformation

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This morning, at the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference, Speaker Johnson discussed House Republicans’ clean 6-month continuing resolution (CR) and Congressional Democrats’ attempt to force a government shutdown.

“Here’s the bottom line. If Congressional Democrats refuse to support this clean CR, they will be responsible for every troop who misses a paycheck, for every flight delay from reduced staffing at TSA, and for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government,” Speaker Johnson said.

On Congressional Democrats spreading misinformation about the CR:

[Democrats] either have an issue with reading comprehension or they are attempting to run one of the most shameful misinformation campaigns that we’ve ever seen in our lives. We filed the continued resolution on Saturday, and as was noted, they had already come out panning the bill that literally had not yet been seen. This is the house Democrat leadership team’s statement on Friday. They said, “Republicans have decided to introduce a partisan continuing resolution that threatens to cut funding for healthcare, nutritional assistance, and veterans benefits through the end of the year.” Every single word of that is a lie. Every single word, they just made it up. They didn’t read the bill. It’s nonsense. People are not buying this.

They said, “It’s so harmful to the American people. You know, cutting Medicaid, cutting Medicare, threatening social security, cutting veteran benefits.” It’s all a lie. You can all read the bills. 99 pages. This clean CR contains no poison pill riders. No policy riders there at all. No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. Zero. No cuts to veterans benefit benefits. Zero. In fact, as was noted, we plus up the accounts for veterans. And respectfully, I’m just going to say this to every reporter in the room. If you’re allowing Democrats to make these intentionally false, scurrilous claims without pushback, then you’re aiding and abetting the spreading this misinformation. I would just ask you to call ’em on it. The American people deserve that. They deserve that clarity from our press corps. Make them point it out to you. They can’t, of course.

On House Republicans’ efforts to keep the government open:

You will see one team that is working to fund the government and make sure we do the responsible thing. And you’re going to see another opposing a CR because they’ve now exposed the truth. They’re not for federal workers; they’re not for anyone. All the people they’ve said in the past that are going to be harmed, would be by their votes. They’re using federal employees as props. They’re using Medicaid benefits and social security checks as cudgels. The threat of government shutdown, they’re using as some sort of attempt to wrestle power away from the president of the United States who overwhelmingly won the popular vote, the electoral college in every single swing state.

On Democrats changing their tune on government shutdowns:

And now, after weeks of trotting federal workers up to Capitol Hill and onto cable news shows to protest President Trump’s efforts to make the government more efficient, now they’re planning to vote down this simple bill. They are going to try to shut the government down. Every house Democrat will participate in this it looks like. That would be a shame if it’s true, I hope some of them will have a moment of clarity themselves and do the right thing. But it looks like they’re going to try to shut down the government. It’s a striking new posture for Democrats who have always been apoplectic about the prospect of government shutdowns. This is their own words. You don’t need to trust us on this.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

PODCAST: Billionaire CEO Warns He’ll Close NYC Grocery Stores if Democratic Socialist Candidate Wins

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John Catsimatidis immigrated to the United States with his family in 1948 and quickly became a true New Yorker, raised in Harlem. He went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help his parents pay the bills until, just eight credits short of graduating from New York University, he opted to work in the grocery business full-time.

Today, that grocery business has evolved into the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment, and media, including the iconic radio station WABC in New York, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics. John is also an author his latest book is “HOW FAR DO YOU WANT TO GO: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire,”

©2025 . All rights reserved.