Why We Need Public Broadcasting
Attacks on media have been so pervasive of late that it would make Lenin blush. Whether it’s the government suing companies out of existence or executives with no journalism experience taking over the newsroom, we’ve seen the compromise and destruction of some of our most durable for-profit media companies, ruining what I had come to rely on as legitimate resources.
It’s another blow to see the state’s largest newspaper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, eliminate its print edition.
This is not unprecedented. Private companies can do what they like and engage in abhorrent political behavior, though the savviest in the industry avoid it, respecting that political winds can change and partisan activism can turn against you.
I am certainly sympathetic to how rising production and circulation costs are hurting the print industry, forcing difficult decisions that will likely leave thousands without news.
Photo credit: gpb.org
But it particularly pains me to see public broadcasting targeted for elimination, and to consider my potential grandchildren growing up without it.
What is to be gained by eliminating the more than $1.1 billion Corporation for Public Broadcasting? Will this help pay for tearing down the White House East Wing and destroying the Kennedy Center, together projected to cost at least $500 million? Is this what we want in exchange for taking educational resources from our kids and making our rural communities more vulnerable to emergencies?
Raising my son in today’s media saturated world, I’m glad my childhood was spent on a pastoral farm in Canton with only three or so TV stations, one of which was Georgia Public Broadcasting. Something about the programming on this channel just felt more soothing. And what parent doesn’t need that?
As much as I enjoyed commercial stations, even as a child I resented the intrusion of commercials into the programming that were notably absent from GPB’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Electric Company and Sesame Street.
This is the reason why college radio stations are more fun to listen to and why tuning into PBS and WABE tends to be a more relaxing experience, even when Political Breakfast heats up.
GPB is also a critical resource for our teachers, providing free, state-standards-aligned digital resources and in-classroom tools for K-12. The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute estimates more than 77,000 Georgia teachers have accessed GPB educational content more than 4 million times.
It particularly pains me to see public broadcasting targeted for elimination, and to consider my potential grandchildren growing up without it.
As far as the news programs having political bias, I wonder: Is destroying or compromising all information channels the price we must pay to address the issue? The same administration for the same reason wants to eliminate public schools, public libraries, public health and, as a consequence, public safety.
What of our 184,000 Georgia households without an internet connection? GPB, which is in the gravest danger of all Georgia’s public broadcasting entities, is the only one that serves the entire state of Georgia with 22 radio stations and nine TV stations.
GPB’s rural community stations reportedly will be cut first due to the elimination of CPB funding ($4.2 million). Without local public radio, how will these communities know they are in danger in the event of an emergency?
Some suggested shifting communication about emergencies to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but this administration also proposed cutting NOAA funding in fiscal year 2026. (A bipartisan budget bill passed in January and signed by Trump rejected that cut and kept the NOAA budget stable.)
Along with plans to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency workforce this year, including workers with multiyear contracts on projects such as cleaning and rebuilding communities destroyed by hurricanes and tornadoes in Georgia, it’s a double whammy – depriving these communities of both the ability to learn of weather events before they happen, and the resources to help repair and rebuild after.
I hope it doesn’t take an emergency event actually happening for these communities to realize how they have been so endangered by these decisions.
GPB, WABE, WCLK and others are counting on donors to prop them up until national leaders come to their senses and realize they are delivering a death sentence to their most loyal voters. This is bad policy in action that puts Georgia lives as well as our education resources at risk.
Please help if you can and educate your neighbors and your congressmen on the importance of public broadcasting. 
Ben Young is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Georgia Trend. | 
byoung@georgiatrend.com
