The fundraising arms of PBS and NPR were already on the defensive over challenges to their overwhelmingly biased reporting on the taxpayers’ dime. Now comes President Trump’s executive order Thursday night cutting taxpayer funding of PBS and NPR. The text of the order was posted on the Trump team’s “Rapid Response 47” account on X.
Before that storm broke, both outlets took advantage of the latest “Public Media Giving Days” (they need two?) to release pleading emails on early Thursday afternoon, stressing different angles while asking the public to give generously. As if the public doesn’t do that already, to the tune of over half a billion dollars a year to PBS and NPR via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, at least for now.
The PBS email subject line fostered a sense of panic: “Urgent: PBS funding threats,” was signed by Alyson…