(New York) as director general of three community radio stations emitting in the Appalachians-two in Virginia and the other in Virginia-Western-, Scott Smith expected to receive bad news last week.
But he was surprised by the emotion that grabbed him when the House of Representatives, following the step in the Senate, approved, by 216 votes to 213, the abolition of $ 1.1 billion already allocated for the next two years to American public media.
“Frankly, for those of us who were invested in this case, we had an idea of the way things were going to take place,” said Scott Smith on Monday. That said, last Thursday and Friday days were a real blow. And it is difficult to recover. »»
This is understood: between 60 and 65 % of the annual funding of the network that Scott Smith leads – Algheny Mountain Radio – comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Until last week, this organization created in 1967 funded a very modest part of the budgets of the two emblematic public networks, PBS television and NPR radio, as well as a much larger share of budgets of 1,500 local or independent local radios and television.
Photo Ting Shen, Archives The New York Times
NPR offices in Washington
Majority in the Senate and the House, the Republicans have invoked the lack of objectivity of reports and PBS and NPR emissions to justify the cancellation of public media financing, which represents about $ 1.60 per person per year. They thus offered a victory to Donald Trump, who asked the congress last March to end public funding from these two “horribly and completely biased networks”.
However, the cancellation of this funding will harm the radios more in the rural areas, where the Donald Trump voters are found, than in NPR, who can count on other sources of income.
What is more, these radios are often the only media to still provide local information to the populations of their regions. This is particularly the case for the stations of the Allegheny Mountain Radio network, whose audience has a “very, very limited” access to the cellular service, known as Scott Smith.
“Of course, if you do not have a cellular or electricity service during a weather emergency, you can still receive our signal if you have a radio connected to a battery. You can walk to your car, turn the key and syntonize our station. We always express during these emergency situations, ”he explains.
“National ideology”
There was a time when the essential service offered by these radios located in rural areas or in the indigenous territories encouraged Republican elected officials to renew the financing of public media, despite the efforts of all republican presidents from Ronald Reagan to end it.
The Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski also resumed this argument last week to justify her opposition to the abolition of this funding. But she is the only one in her camp, with the republican senator from Maine Susan Collins, who opposed the bill which also canceled $ 7.9 billion for international aid.
The other Republicans simply turned their back on “localism”, according to Josh Sheperd, professor of media studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder and author of Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting.
Today, gaining elections does not mean that (these elected officials) have responsibility for their communities. They have a responsibility for a national ideology.
Josh Sheperd, professor of media studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder
“If western Nebraska loses its last access point to public media, all rural communities will be there, by default, simple consumers of national information, that is to say Fox News, Breitbart, etc. Thus, the most republican communities may never receive information dealing with their own business again. I do not predict that it will happen, but that is the goal. The objective is to transform these communities so that they no longer exist in themselves, ”he explains.
The greatest promoters of the end of public media financing do not seem to be interested in this issue. They concentrate their sometimes caricatured criticisms on PBS and NPR, whose emissions are nevertheless synonymous with quality and diversity for tens of millions of Americans. Are among these Sesame Street,, PBS Newshour,, All Things Considered,, Tiny Desk,, NOVA,, Ancient Road Show,, Wait Wait… don’t tell me!.
Photo Jonah Markowitz, Archives The New York Times
Sesame Street is a flagship program of the PBS network.
“PBS and NPR were created to provide objective journalism,” wrote David Bozel, president of the Media Research Center and criticism of public funding of these channels on X. “Instead, we were entitled to Drag Queens shows for children, complimentary reports on Democrats and silence or defamation for conservatives. »»
Public support
Nevertheless: the Republicans of the Congress approved a measure whose vast majority of Americans did not want, if it is necessary to rely on opinion investigations. Two weeks ago, a Harris poll had indicated that 66 % of them, including 58 % of Republicans and 77 % of Democrats, supported funding for public radio.
This support, Scott Smith felt it after the two chambers of the congress.
Since our situation was revealed, both local and national, the public’s response is incredible. I can’t tell you how important it is and how important it is for us.
Scott Smith, Managing Director of Allegheny Mountain Radio
Allegheny Mountain Radio, which employs 11 people, including 5 full-time, will she survive the cuts? Scott Smith believes that network reserves will allow him to continue his activities without major change for at least a year.
“But when you start getting into your reserves and working in the red, you approach the moment you find yourself in front of the existential question of how to continue. »»
