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Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
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The Trump administration released the first part of its proposed federal budget this morning, the third of the president’s term. The “blueprint” that came out today doesn’t include line-by-line funding requests for federal agencies; Bloomberg says that’s “expected later this month.” But when they do arrive, it’s expected that Trump will, for the third time, propose eliminating all federal funding for public broadcasting — zeroing out the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity which then distributes those funds to support public radio and television stations.
He did it in 2017. He did it again in 2018. And both times he failed; the Republican-controlled Congress funded CPB anyway. Given that Democrats now control the House, the chances of Trump getting his way on Take 3 are even more remote.
Why has Congress protected Big Bird so far? Or, to put it another way: Why have two branches of government controlled by the same party treated funding for public media so differently?
There are a few reasons. A presidential budget is essentially a messaging tool these days, a way to show your supporters that you’re addressing their priorities; Congress has to actually decide where real money will go. Just about every member of Congress has a public radio or TV station in his or her district; any transition from rhetoric to reality would be felt back home. But it’s also because public broadcasting is actually pretty popular and pretty trusted by Americans.
Last month, PBS ranked as the most trusted American institution for the 16th straight year. (It’s a PBS-sponsored survey, but other evidence backs that up.) A 2014 Pew study found that, among 36 national news organizations, NPR and PBS finished No. 3 and No. 4 in a ranking of the most trusted; a https://www.rjionline.org/reporthtml.html#trusted-versus-non-trusted-news-sources ranked them No. 5 and No. 6 of 28 major news outlets.
That’s trust — what about bias? A Knight-Gallup survey last year found that, of 17 news organizations, PBS and NPR ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the number of people who said they are “not biased at all.” ...
