PBS Chief Says Trump Defunding Will Have Permanent Local Impact: ‘Stations Would Likely Be Sold, and That'll Be the End'
PBS chief Paula Kerger on Wednesday said President Donald Trump's push to defund public broadcasters would spell the end for a number of local news stations.
Kerger, in an interview with Katie Couric, lamented that 'there are stations that will go off the air' in rural areas if the president is successful, without projecting a specific number of PBS member stations that would cease to operate.
'I think we'll figure out a way, through digital, to make sure there is some PBS content,' Kerger said. 'But there won't be anyone in the community creating local content. There won't be a place for people to come together.'
She added: 'Once broadcast licenses are gone, they're gone. It's a finite commodity. The stations would likely be sold and that'll be the end.'
Trump signed an executive order on May 1 calling for the end of taxpayer subsidization of PBS and NPR, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
'Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,' the order said. 'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.'
The president has also called NPR and PBS 'radical left monsters' that Republicans must defund in recent social media posts.
Whether Trump achieves his goal is to be determined, however. Congress has already allocated $535 million for public broadcasters this fiscal year, and he is facing a lawsuit from CPB over a related issue — his decision to fire three of its board members.
You can watch Kerger's full interview with Couric below; her comments mentioned above are made around the 37-minute mark.
The post PBS Chief Says Trump Defunding Will Have Permanent Local Impact: 'Stations Would Likely Be Sold, and That'll Be the End' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
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