NPR Cuts Budget, Shares $$$ With Affiliates
• NPR announced it will slash its budget by about $8 million in order to provide that money to member stations most impacted by last week’s rescission of federal funding.
In an interview Texas Public Radio’s Dan Katz about the future of public media, NPR Pres. & CEO Katherine Maher said, “Our board of directors at NPR made the decision that we would go ahead and reduce NPR’s own operating budget by about $8 million in the year ahead in order for us to pass along that as fee relief to the most affected stations.”
Public radio stations across the country have lost a total of $350 million for each of the next two years when Congress narrowly voted to approve President Trump’s clawback of more than $1 billion in funds for public broadcasting that were already approved for the next two fiscal years.
Maher told Texas Public Radio that the $8 million in relief for stations is just a first step for NPR. “It’s the short-term step for how we respond right now,” Maher said. “We’re going to use the rest of the year to plan for how we bridge what’s to come in order to support and sustain the network for the future.” The full transcript of Maher’s conversation with Katz is posted HERE.
There are 79 public radio and 33 TV stations in 34 states and territories that have been deemed as “vulnerable” to shutting down due to the loss of federal funding, according to a report released by Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington.
