To Congress:

Public-media outlets in the United States are consistently rated among the most trusted media sources in public-opinion surveys. Our nation’s public-media system produces great journalism but is one of the most poorly funded in the world.

Studies show that the health of a country’s democracy is directly connected to the strength of its public media. More robust funding for public media would strengthen our country’s democracy, leading to lower levels of extremism and deeper public engagement in civic life. That’s exactly what the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 intended.

Please reject legislation to defund public media and protect these valued news sources.

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    Tell Congress to Preserve Funding for Public Media

    Tell Congress: We Need Public Media

    NPR and PBS, and the hundreds of local public-media stations affiliated with them, receive the bulk of their funding in the form of private capital from individual contributors, foundations and corporations — because the federal government invests very little in our public-media system.

    And last month, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R–Texas) introduced legislation that would end the federal government’s financial support of both NPR and PBS.1

    We’ve beaten back threats to slash funding to public media before. And we can do it again. Join Free Press Action and tell Congress: Protect public media.

    1. “Republican Launches Fresh Effort to Yank Federal Funding of Public Radio and TV,” Inside Radio, March 23, 2023