{"id":21396,"date":"2025-07-18T18:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T18:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rural-and-tribal-regions-will-feel-brunt-of-cuts-in-public-broadcasting\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:06:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:06:02","slug":"rural-and-tribal-regions-will-feel-brunt-of-cuts-in-public-broadcasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rural-and-tribal-regions-will-feel-brunt-of-cuts-in-public-broadcasting\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural and tribal regions will feel brunt of cuts in public broadcasting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KYUK
KYUK news director Sage Smiley interviews Morris Alexie, relocation manager for the village of Nunapitchuk (population 600) in western Alaska, July 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sage Smiley)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Tribal nations and rural communities rely the most on federal funding for public broadcasting. More than just dollars and jobs, they stand to lose an essential source of local news and connection.<\/p>\n

The Republican-led Congress on Friday passed President Donald Trump\u2019s request to claw back about $9 billion in public broadcasting and foreign aid spending, according to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Republican administration is employing a rarely used tool that allows the president to transmit a request to cancel previously approved funding authority. Democrats tried to kill the measure but needed more Republicans uncomfortable with the president\u2019s effort to join them, AP reported.<\/p>\n

The Senate approved the vast majority of Trump\u2019s request in the early morning hours Thursday, 51-48. The House followed suit early Friday, 216-213. The measure now goes to the president to be signed into law.<\/p>\n

The funding cuts likely will leave some tribal and rural regions without local reporting and a community connection.<\/p>\n

Alaska\u2019s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is a region about the size of the state of Oregon. It\u2019s 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 Native, call the tundra home.<\/p>\n

KYUK public broadcasting serves the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta through public radio and television programs and broadcasts bilingually in English and Yup\u2019ik, which many elder residents speak as a first, or only, language.<\/p>\n

This Rescissions Act is a Trump Administration agenda bill that authorized Trump\u2019s funding cuts to public media, if Congress approves it. It cancels $1.1 billion in appropriated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.<\/p>\n

Of the 544 stations that receive CPB funding, 245 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said Sage Smiley, news director for KYUK.<\/p>\n

Susan Collins, Republican Senator from Maine, said in a Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing in June that \u201cin 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.\u201d There are other ways to address the \u201cbias at NPR,\u201d she said, \u201cthan rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KSJD
KSJD is the community radio station in Cortez, Colorado, in Southwest Colorado. KSJD receives around a third of its funding from CPB. (Photo courtesy of KSJD)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It\u2019s a similar story in Alaska. Federal funding through CPB makes up 70% of KYUK\u2019s budget. If funding is cut to CPB, KYUK would need to make some major changes, according to Smiley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said Smiley.<\/p>\n

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said in a statement that there\u2019s economic value to funding public media. \u201cFederal funding is essential to public media. Every dollar from CPB brings nearly seven more from state, local, and private donors \u2013 the kind of return any taxpayer would insist upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic broadcasting exists for everyone. It\u2019s not pay to play. It\u2019s not behind the pay wall,\u201d said Smiley. She added that in her region, many people cannot afford to pay for their news, local or otherwise.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cIt does not do the kind of news that KYUK does,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Smiley also said she sees that statewide or national news coverage of her region sometimes lacks nuance and context. \u201cWhen you\u2019re disconnected from community, when you\u2019re reporting from elsewhere, you end up missing the mark,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. Because the Rescissions Act passed, those opposed to public media funding cuts will no longer be able to make this argument.<\/p>\n

On reservations many residents don\u2019t have reliable internet access, which makes radio an essential source of connection to their community. \u201cTribal-serving stations help reach some of the most underserved, under-heard people in the country,\u201d said Tami Graham, KSUT\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

Radio is one of the best forms of emergency communication for these regions as well. \u201cWhen you\u2019re out on the rez and you have no internet and you\u2019re trying to figure out \u2018this flash flood, can I cross safely?\u2019 The only way you can get that information is through your local community tribal-serving station,\u201d said Graham.<\/p>\n

KSUT receives 20% of their budget or around $330,000 annually from CPB, said Graham. Now, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be terrible but we are going to get through this. I have faith in our communities that we\u2019re going to find a path forward,\u201d said Graham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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