By Robert Dean
Guest Columnist
Somewhere in rural Kentucky where the cell service ain’t so great, there’s a family who can’t afford Netflix and Disney+ along with all of the other endless streaming options. Not everyone has an extra $20 to spend. That $20 goes a long way when you’re counting pennies. You know what that family does have? PBS. Big Bird. You know what dad can listen to in the morning in his truck if he wants to? NPR. He doesn’t have to listen to the news if he prefers a biased conversation, but he can hear the stories from people globally if he wants to – from singers with a new album, to what’s happening in data science, it’s all there and both are free. Won’t cost you a dime.
President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to defund NPR and PBS targets approximately $535 million in annual federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). That’s 0.01% of the federal budget—roughly $1.60 per American per year. Less than a gas station coffee. (And not nearly as bitter.)
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense is scarfing $850 billion annually—about 13% of all federal spending. Not to pay troops. To buy new toys for Raytheon and Boeing. Since 2022, we’ve allocated $182.8 billion to Ukraine. And Israel? $310 billion since its founding, with an $8 billion arms deal teed up in 2025.
But yeah. The problem is PBS.
For a lot of rural families, public broadcasting is the only reliable access to educational content. Daniel Tiger, Mr. Rogers, The Wild Kratts: these shows don’t push propaganda. They teach kids not to be jerks. And they’re free.
Trump’s executive order—called “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media”—directs CPB to shut off all federal funding to NPR and PBS by June 30. He accuses them of pushing “radical, woke propaganda.” Apparently, balanced programming, fact-based reporting, and nuanced discussion are now national security threats. What’s next? Fresh Air gets canceled unless they interview Kid Rock?
Stations like Marfa Public Radio in Texas and WMKY in Morehead, Kentucky rely on CPB funding to stay alive. They provide emergency updates during wildfires, floods, and blackouts. They keep rural communities connected. Now they’re political collateral damage.
PBS and NPR are fighting back in court, arguing that the order oversteps executive authority and violates the First Amendment. They’re right. Congress holds the purse strings—not a president playing monarch.
The 2026 budget proposal slashes funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities. Public institutions that challenge power or ask questions are being gutted so they can be replaced by patriotic coloring books and flag-waving cosplay.
America’s story is messy. It includes genocide, slavery, war, and corruption. If we can’t teach that truth because it makes the powerful uncomfortable, we’re not a country—we’re a PR campaign. This isn’t about saving money. This is about control. It’s about silencing anything that challenges the approved narrative—anything that says, “Hey, maybe there’s a better way to be human.”
You don’t have to like This American Life, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, or Ken Burns documentaries. But they have a right to exist. And you have a right to hear them.
And let’s not forget: you probably grew up watching Big Bird. You learned the Golden Rule from a puppet on a stoop. Maybe ask yourself what he’d think of all this.
As Grover might say:
“This episode was brought to you by the letter R — for Ridiculous.”
At least Oscar the Grouch owns his trash.
Contact us at news@cartercountytimes.com
