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We can ignite a grassroots response to Trumps threat to American Public Broadcasting [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-31

I’ve lived most of my adult life just north of the Canadian/U.S. border — close enough to have become a regular listener/viewer of American Public Broadcasting. I am a member of one of the nearby Seattle PBS TV stations and a Tacoma-base NPR news and Jazz radio station. Regional PBS is carried on Canadian cable systems across Canada, and these days NPR radio is not only available on the airwaves, but through Alexa (which, in my case, is patched into my old-school stereo and pumped out to a system of wireless headphones and speakers inside and outside the house).

Needless to say I’m a fan — which is why every month little donations go automatically from my Canadian bank account to American NPR and PBS.

I would feel a loss in my own (Canadian) life if Trump was allowed to diminish the quality or quantity of programming coming into the airwaves from American public broadcasters. I can only imagine that the tens of millions of Americans who watch/listen to American public broadcasting feel the same — even if most of them aren’t currently NPR/PBS members.

I want to suggest a specific grassroots tactic for thwarting Vandal Trump’s attack on American public broadcasting

Everyone who is a listener/viewer but not a member — JOIN. When I retired my monthly donation dropped from $25 to 5 for each: TV and Radio. That’s not a lot in itself — the power here is not in a few large-dollar donations, but rather huge numbers of new small-dollar donors. Ninety percent of PBS listeners are not members — so there is a lot of room for growth. Each new member is more than support for quality media, it’s also a big middle finger to the Trump agenda and it’s campaign against a fact-checked public square. If you are already a member/donor, make it your business to recruit one other person to join their nearest (or favourite) NPR and PBS stations and become a small-dollar monthly donor to each. Or recruit one radio fan and one TV fan — each one donating $5/month.

We all know people who (unfortunately) cannot make a committment even this small like this without sacrificing groceries or medicine or per food — but most of us do know a few (or many, even) who are in a position to spend a few bucks each month as an act of political and cultural resistance against American fascism. We often see diaries or tweets or blogs from people feeling frustrated about being not able to push back. Well, people...

If this diary inspires you to join NPR/PBS anew, or leads to you successfully recruiting someone else to start contributing, please let readers know in the comments. Similarly — if you like the concept take measures to share — or have ideas for spreading the concept pout like ripples in a pond, please share your thinking or an account of your action in the comments — even if you hit a wall.

Footnote/fun fact:

American public broadcasting outlets located close to the Canadian border are well aware of their Canadian audiences and contributors. During their seasonal on-air fundraising /membership drives, the announcers always take care to specifically address “our Canadian friends and supporters.” Detroit PBS TV gets about one in eight membership dollars from Canadians, and the PBS station located in the cultural wasteland of western rural Washington gets almost a half(!).

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