NPR CEO warns public broadcasting cuts could be “a real risk to the public safety of the country”

Before the Senate voted early Thursday morning to pass a rescissions package that includes major cuts to public broadcasting, National Public Radio President and CEO Katherine Maher warned, “defunding this is a real risk to the public safety of the country.”

“Public media, public radio, public television, are a critical part of the emergency response plans of nearly half of the states in this nation,” Maher said in an interview with CBS News. “If these types of emergency alerting go away, you will have fewer outlets to be able to respond in real time” to future natural disasters. 

In June, the White House asked Congress to cancel $9.4 billion in appropriations that had previously been approved. The request, known as the rescissions package, passed in the House in mid-June and would cut roughly $8 billion from international assistance, including organizations like the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. The Senate added an amendment to exempt $400 million in global health funding for PEPFAR, a program started during the Bush administration to combat HIV/AIDS in developing countries. 

The revised package passed by a vote of 51-48, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joining Democrats in voting against it. 

“My obligation is to my constituents and to the Constitution,” Murkowski told reporters after voting against an earlier procedural vote Tuesday.. “So I look at the Constitution and say that it is … the legislative branch that has the power of the purse. I take that charge personally, and so I’m going to execute on it.”

In addition to the foreign assistance cuts, the package includes $1.1 billion in reductions for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds 1,500 local public radio and television stations around the country.

The legislation follows an executive order by President Trump in May directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, alleging partisan bias. 

“Neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens,” the order stated. 

Maher previously testified before a House subcommittee in March alongside PBS CEO Paula Kerger, where they defended their organizations from the accusations of bias. In her interview this week, Maher reiterated that NPR prioritizes stories that “directly speak to Americans’ political interests and changing beliefs.” 

“I take all criticism seriously, as I think any news organization should,” Maher said. “And if there’s a perception that we are not serving the full range of American political life, well we need to, we need to respond to that.”

Ahead of a Friday deadline, Mr. Trump urged Republicans to support the clawbacks or risk losing his support. 

“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post this month, using a nickname designed to mock MSNBC. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.” 

Democratic and Republican senators have voiced concerns about cuts to public broadcasting, especially for those serving rural and Native communities. During Wednesday’s vote-a-rama, Sen. Maria Cantwell warned that eliminating funding for CPB could endanger those who rely on radio for emergency information.

“We’re not just putting PBS at risk here, we’re putting millions of Americans who depend on local media for life-saving information [at risk],” Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, said in a floor speech. “And what’s in this rescission request is really making sure that public broadcasters don’t have that ability, at least in 20 states where they have emergency plans.”

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a GOP holdout who initially expressed skepticism about the rescissions package, said this week he intends to support it after working with the White House to reallocate unused funding through the Department of the Interior to tribal stations.

“It will keep them in operation. It will be for one year at a time,” Rounds said.

The rescissions package comes on the heels of the devastating July 4 floods on Texas’ Guadalupe River, which left more than 130 dead and search efforts are still ongoing for more than 100 still unaccounted for. 

Since the tragedy, there have been questions about the efficiency of emergency alert systems — many of which, Maher said, rely on public broadcasting. 

Maher said communities in rural areas like that would feel the largest impacts of the funding cuts. She said some NPR stations receive “more than 50% of their budget” from federal funds and could face tough decisions, from staffing layoffs to potential station closures.

WDIY, a public radio station in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, has a mix of news and musical programming that is produced by a staff of four along with a host of community volunteers. About 15% of its overall budget comes from CPB funding. 

“Losing that money would mean that we would have to make some serious decisions about do we carry NPR programming anymore because that money helps us pay for that programming,”  WDIY Executive Director Margaret McConnell told CBS News. 

Without those smaller stations producing area-specific news and media, Maher cautioned it could become more difficult for such communities to receive information usually provided through local radio. 

“We lose something fundamental as a nation if public media goes away,” said Maher.