Q: What percentage of your funding comes from taxpayers, and how is that money spent?

A: Federal funding for public broadcasting amounts to about $1.60 per person annually. This critical seed money is maximized locally to provide essential public services, including children’s educational content and community resources, lifesaving public safety services, and content and services that help engage communities and contribute to a stronger, more connected society.

Q: Why should taxpayers continue funding public media?
A: Public Media is a vital resource for rural communities in bandwidth-limited areas, where commercial media is out of reach physically or financially. For about $1.60 per person per year of federal funding, public broadcasting provides every American household with exceptional local services – every day, for free, everywhere they are. We are also a critical resource for communities and an essential public safety partner, helping alert people about emergencies, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and other severe weather.

Q: What would defunding public media mean for consumers?

A: The substantial majority of federal funding for public media goes to local stations. As a result, defunding public media would have a significant negative impact on local stations and the communities that rely on them for essential public services, including local news, public safety alerts, and community connections. The effect would be felt most severely in rural and remote communities where local public media stations are often the last locally operated and locally controlled media sources, putting at risk local emergency alerting and access to free, trusted, local journalism.

Q: How does U.S. public media funding compare to other democratic countries, and what lessons can we learn?

A: The U.S. invests significantly less in public media compared to other democracies. Countries with higher public media funding often see greater societal cohesion, informed citizenry, and cultural preservation.

Q: Which programs or services would be most affected if public media loses government funding?

A: A cut to federal funding is a serious threat to the existence of local public radio stations, which puts all of our programming and services at risk. It would be especially problematic for our rural stations and local emergency content. These are the areas that commercial media often do not attempt to serve, and likely wouldn’t, due to their for-profit model.

Q: How does public media ensure its content remains unbiased and free from government influence?

A: Public media adheres to strict editorial standards and governance structures to ensure independence and fairness and is not swayed by either governmental or commercial pressures. We commit to meeting these standards every day and are constantly looking for any way to improve our ability to do so.

For Concerned Citizens:

• Share with friends and family why WUSF, WSMR, and public media matter to you and your community
• Amplify public media success stories on social media

For Current Supporters:

• Your continued membership is vital—thank you for making our work possible
• Consider increasing your support during this critical time
• Become an ambassador by encouraging others to join you in supporting public media

For Philanthropists and Major Donors:

• Your leadership giving can help bridge potential funding gaps
• Strategic investments in WUSF's journalism, Classical WSMR, education initiatives, and emergency information systems create lasting community impact
• Partner with us to strengthen the infrastructure that keeps our communities informed, engaged, and safe

The White House is starting the process to eliminate funding for public media

President Trump plans order to cut funding for NPR and PBS

NPR CEO Katherine Maher addresses future of federal funding for public media