Dear Friends:
What you have helped us build is at risk.
In 1954, KQED was one of six public television stations that took to the airwaves with a new kind of TV. What started 70 years ago as a pioneering local enterprise has grown into a distributed system of 1,500 locally and independently managed television and radio stations that ensure universal access to free, non-commercial news and information, high-quality programming and educational content. Individual contributors, foundations and corporate sponsorship fund KQED, but the system is held together by the annual federal appropriation to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
The current annual federal appropriation to CPB is $535 million (about .01 percent of the federal budget). Federal funding represents 7 percent of KQED’s budget. KQED is fortunate to also have the support of our members, foundations and corporate sponsors, but the loss of federal funding would impact our ability to serve our community. There are strong signals coming out of Washington D.C., that the future of public media will be at stake over the coming months.
Defunding public media would lead to the collapse of the national public media structure. Independent non-commercial media are often the only local outlets in many American communities in times of crisis, such as fires and floods. We would be losing educational resources for children, and we know that a decrease in reliable information results in less civic engagement and increased disinformation.
In the last few weeks, the new administration has initiated other actions to challenge the integrity of public media. The FCC recently launched an investigation into NPR and PBS underwriting programs. NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS President Paula Kerger have been asked to testify at a subcommittee hearing regarding what the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) calls "systematically biased content." Last week, Pentagon officials asked NPR, along with the New York Times, NBC News and Politico, to vacate their work spaces inside the Pentagon so other outlets can cycle in. These attempts to delegitimize public media threaten our ability to serve the public.
Historically, public media has received bipartisan support because of our essential role in public safety, education and civic engagement. We adhere to strict sponsorship policies and review processes to comply with all FCC regulations. We uphold the highest possible standards of journalism to ensure our local coverage remains fact-based, trustworthy and fair. The future of public media will be settled in Congress and we need Congressional representatives to understand how our service matters to their constituents.
Please help us make a case about the impact of our work in your lives. Visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, which includes resources you can use to take action. And amplify your voice by spreading the word with your family and friends as to why KQED, local journalism and public media are important to you.
With gratitude, |
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Michael J. Isip
President and CEO, KQED |
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