As federal funding cuts loom, GPB has a message for its listeners

Georgia Public Broadcasting is comprised of NPR member radio stations and PBS member television stations. It does not include WABE, which is an NPR member station owned by Atlanta Public Schools, but WABE has also launched a campaign to protect public media.

Last week marked an unprecedented milestone in public media. The House of Representatives narrowly voted to claw back $1.1 billion approved for the CPB, which provides money for NPR, PBS and thousands of other public media stations across the country, including those part of the GPB network.

In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Huffman said all fund sources are important to its budget and cannot be easily replaced or supplemented.

“Loss of federal funding would hinder our work, especially in serving a statewide audience with journalism, early childhood education and programs that are freely accessible to all,” Huffman said in the statement.

The cuts to public broadcasting are one part of a larger plan to reverse about $9 billion in funding for programs approved before President Donald Trump resumed office. It’s called a “rescissions package,“ and also includes cuts for the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, and a global health program aimed at combating HIV and AIDS, among other areas.

After the 214-212 House approval, the measure now heads to the Senate. The spending cuts need to be approved by the Senate within five weeks. If ignored, the previously approved allocation remains intact.

The approval was the culmination of the Trump administration’s renewed interest in slashing public subsidies for both entities, which they claim show bias in coverage and spread “radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’” In late May, NPR and other public radio organizations sued Trump over the executive order cutting funding, saying it violated the Constitution and First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.

NPR and PBS member stations are not entirely dependent on funding from the CPB. They’re funded largely through the support of individual donors, corporate underwriting or state, local or university support, among other sources of income.

In fiscal year 2024, GPB’s revenue totaled about $39.8 million, according to GPB. Of this, about 12% came from CPB.

About a third of the revenue comes from state appropriations through the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents, according to an audit from the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission. This is set aside for its education programming and infrastructure investment, not its news operations. A little more than a quarter comes from contributions and donations, which totaled about $10.5 million for 2024, according to the audit.

GPB also receives money from corporate sponsors, with that totaling $3.6 million in 2024, and GPB generates rental income from outside production companies and groups using its Midtown facilities. This totaled $2.6 million.

But 12% isn’t an insignificant amount of money.

“We budget like any other nonprofit, focusing on efficiency and mission fulfillment,” Huffman said in the statement. “Our aim every year is to meet that bottom line, so we don’t have the luxury of padding to fall back on in times like this.”

Two areas that the potential loss of funding can potentially impact are programming and staffing. In April, WABE made cuts to its staff ahead of the possible federal cuts.

This is not the first time cuts in federal funding have hit GPB this year. GPB was a recipient of a $260,000 Ready to Learn grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS. The grant was used to create what it called a “Learning Neighborhood,” which provided children ages 2 to 8 from low-income communities a stronger foundation in literacy, computational thinking and career readiness. GPB worked with community partners to use PBS Kids resources in monthly events.

In May, all 2020-2025 Ready to Learn grants were terminated. The 2020-2025 cycle, which would’ve expired on Sept. 30, was approved by the first Trump administration.

Several NPR member stations are part of the GPB network, including WRAS in Atlanta, WUGA in Athens, WSVH in Savannah and WMUM in Macon. Its PBS member television stations include WGTV in Atlanta and Athens and WVAN-TV in Valdosta, among several others.

Jabari Simama, a former city official and community media advocate, said he doesn’t remember a time when the White House was this critical of NPR or PBS. There were vestiges of it during Richard Nixon’s presidency, but it never went this far, he said.

“I can’t think of a time in history where it’s gone beyond a government official criticizing Corporation for Public Broadcasting or an affiliated station to the point of taking action,” Simama said.

A March report from the Pew Research Center found more people support the federal government continuing to fund NPR and PBS than the other way around. About a quarter of U.S. adults believe Congress should remove the funding, while 33% were unsure. The numbers are much different when the answer is split into Republican and Democratic-leaning respondents. About 19% of Republican or Republican-leaning respondents said they should continue to fund the two entities, compared with 69% of Democrats.

“We have to have the courage to fight for the integrity of the medium,” Simama said. “If this medium is important to people and it has served their information needs, they have to say something about it.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with financial figures from Georgia Public Broadcasting.