Trump administration funding cuts to public media through a rescissions bill currently moving through Congress would affect rural and tribal areas most, leaving some regions without local reporting and vital community connection.
Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is a region about the size of the state of Oregon. It’s inaccessible by road. Bush planes, boats, and in the winter, snowmobiles, are the only form of transportation. Here, where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers meet the ocean, 58 communities and more than 23,000 residents, most of whom are Alaska Native or American Indian, call the tundra home.
KYUK public broadcasting serves the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta through public radio and television programs and broadcasts bilingually in English and Yup’ik, which many Elder residents speak as a first, or only, language.
This Rescissions Act is a Trump Administration agenda bill that would authorize Trump’s funding cuts to public media, if Congress approves it. The bill, which has passed in the House of Representative and is currently in the Senate, would cancel $1.1 billion in already appropriated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
Two-hundred and forty-five of the 544 stations that receive CPB funding are rural, and rural stations depend more on this funding than their urban counterparts. On average, rural stations rely on CBP for 17% of funding, and some tribal stations receive more than 50% of their funding through CPB.
“The communities that will be most affected are the ones that are the smallest and have the most to lose. Rural America deserves to be able to be seen and heard through public media,” said Sage Smiley, news director for KYUK.
The Senate has a July 18 deadline to vote on this bill. Democratic senators are loudly opposed, but even Republican senators who represent rural communities have expressed apprehension about the proposed cuts.
Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, said in a Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing in June that “in Maine, this funding supports everything from emergency communications in rural areas, to coverage of high school basketball championships and a locally produced high school quiz show.” There are other ways to address the “bias at NPR,” she said, “than rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”
It’s a similar story in Alaska. Federal funding through CPB makes up 70% of KYUK’s budget. If funding is cut to CPB, KYUK would need to make some major changes, according to Smiley.
“The goal is to keep KYUK on the air and maintain its licensure, which [if the Rescissions Act is passed] would require some incredibly drastic cuts to staff from what I understand,” said Smiley.
Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), said in a statement that there’s economic value to funding public media. “Federal funding is essential to public media. Every dollar from CPB brings nearly seven more from state, local, and private donors – the kind of return any taxpayer would insist upon.”
“Public broadcasting exists for everyone. It’s not pay to play. It’s not behind the paywall,” said Smiley. She added that in her region, many people cannot afford to pay for their news, local or otherwise.
In rural areas like the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, local news is not a given. In 2024, the number of news deserts, or counties without any local news, rose to 208. But it’s not just the existence of a news source, its quality also matters. Many small papers have been gutted due to funding cuts, leaving a reporting staff barely able to cover local issues.
Smiley said that in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the other main source of news for the region is a newspaper that mostly prints press releases and photos. “It does not do the kind of news that KYUK does,” she said.
Studies have shown that without local reporting, government corruption grows. Having local reporters present at county meetings is sometimes the only way residents get updates on local issues. And in many rural areas, federal funding is the only way to support these on-the-ground reporters.
Smiley also said she sees that statewide or national news coverage of her region sometimes lacks nuance and context. “When you’re disconnected from community, when you’re reporting from elsewhere, you end up missing the mark,” she said.
In Southwest Colorado, KSUT was created in 1976 as a tribal radio station and communication resource for the Southern Ute reservation. The station aired programming mostly in the Ute language with community news and tribal music.
Today, KSUT serves the entire Four Corners area, from the Southern Ute reservation outside of Durango, to Navajo Nation and Jicarilla Apache in New Mexico.
In May, KSUT joined forces with NPR and other Colorado radio stations to sue the Trump Administration over an executive order to end federal funding of public media. This lawsuit argued that because Congress controls funding, an executive order changing the flow of funds without congressional buy-in is unconstitutional. If the Rescissions Act passes, those opposed to public media funding cuts will no longer be able to make this argument.
On reservations, many residents don’t have reliable internet access, which makes radio an essential source of connection to their community. “Tribal-serving stations help reach some of the most underserved, under-heard people in the country,” said Tami Graham, KSUT’s executive director.
Radio is one of the best forms of emergency communication for these regions as well. “When you’re out on the [reservation] and you have no internet, and you’re trying to figure out ‘this flash flood, can I cross safely?’ The only way you can get that information is through your local community tribal-serving station,” said Graham.
KSUT receives 20% of their budget, or around $330,000 annually from CPB, said Graham. If the Rescissions Act passes, Graham said they will go straight into fundraising mode. KSUT, and many public radio stations, already have a plea for donations on the front page of their websites.
“It’ll be terrible, but we are going to get through this. I have faith in our communities that we’re going to find a path forward,” said Graham.
This piece originally appeared in The Daily Yonder and is published here with permission.