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Hey, happy Wednesday. The Senate is preparing to debate the "DOGE cuts" bill, The New York Times is buzzing about some culture desk changes, and Press Forward is announcing millions of dollars in new grants. Let's get to it...

Taking the 'public' out of public broadcasting

Katie Oyan/AP/File

This is the moment PBS and NPR leaders have always feared, but have never faced until now. 

The Senate is about to vote on a "rescissions" bill that will erase the next two years of federal funding for public TV and radio stations across the US.

The bill cleared two procedural hurdles last night, 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie breaking votes. Final passage could take place tonight.

It's not over until it's over, of course. Senators like Susan Collins could propose amendments to salvage some of the public media $$$. "We'll be working the phones and texts until the last vote is cast," a public media exec told me this morning. 

But it looks like President Trump's crusade to zero out PBS and NPR funding will prevail. So I wrote this explainer about the likely near-future:

What will viewers/listeners notice?

Over time, some local stations may be forced off the air, while other stations may have fewer shows to broadcast. Stations will likely have fewer resources for news reporting and educational programming. But the exact impacts are hard to predict because the public radio and TV system is complex, and this defunding maneuver has never happened before.

The center of the system is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, which Trump has targeted several different ways. If the rescission takes effect, CPB's money will start to dry up in October, so stations will face budget shortfalls this fall. Some station officials are already planning layoffs and other cost-cutting moves.

Will donations fill the gaps?

Yes and no. "Viewers like you" are critical, but federal funding has historically served as the foundation of the public media house.

Bigger stations in metro areas will have an easier time making up the deficits than smaller stations; if the bill passes the Senate tonight/tomorrow, some big-city public media outlets will launch fundraising campaigns immediately.

But smaller stations, particularly those in hard-to-reach areas, are more reliant on the taxpayer $$$; without it, some broadcasters in rural areas will go dark, according to officials who spoke with CNN. This morning's USA Today tells the story of Smoky Hills PBS in rural Kansas, where the sudden cut would be "catastrophic."

What will the domino effects be?

This is where it gets interesting — and stressful for the people involved. "There are unknown unknowns," an insider said. In the public media system, money flows out from CPB to localities, then returns to the national entities through dues and fees from stations. Thus, shows like "All Things Considered" won't be axed, but they will suffer from the across-the-board cut. Independent producers will feel the pinch too. As this WaPo story explains, musicians could also lose out, because "the CPB funding typically covers all music licensing fees for public radio stations."

 >> NPR has made the case to listeners that "elimination of federal funding would ultimately result in fewer programs, less journalism — especially local journalism — and eventually the loss of public radio stations, particularly in rural and economically distressed communities."

What are the pro and con arguments?

I wrote about those here. Republicans say taxpayer-funded news coverage is biased and the whole system is obsolete in a streaming age. Democrats say it's essential. Anna M. Gomez, the lone Dem on the FCC, says the pending cut is part of Trump's broader campaign against the media. "This isn't about saving money," Gomez wrote on X. "It's about silencing those who report the news accurately, without fear or favor." A few related links:

 >> The NYT editorial board's new piece this morning is titled "Public Media Can Be a Lifeline. Gutting It Hurts Everyone."

The next fight after this

The rescission is not the very end of the road for CPB. After all, Congress is working on spending bills for fiscal 2026, and some public media advocates are holding out hope that funds for local stations could be reinserted through some sort of GOP-Dem compromise. The public media system will "try to get something put back in the budget process," PBS CEO Paula Kerger said the other day, while admitting "that's going to be a much harder battle."

We'll see. But let's not lose sight of the big story: In 1967, when Congress created public broadcasting, it declared that noncommercial TV and radio "for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes" was in the public interest. Today, that system — and that belief — is on the chopping block. 

EXCLUSIVE

Press Forward's newest grants

This morning, the Press Forward philanthropic initiative is announcing a big round of grants totaling $22.7 million for "local news infrastructure," and we have the first look here.

"Local newsrooms need shared resources and tools to strengthen operations, keep journalists healthy and safe, and develop new revenue streams," the group says. So the 22 grants are for projects like expanding the Documenters program; equipping newsrooms with disaster plans; scaling up mental health support for journalists; and launching an Immigrant News Coalition.

 >> This bittersweet project stood out to me: An "internet archive" for preserving "vital local online news content that often goes offline when a publication ceases to exist."

 >> I highly recommend checking out all the grantees at the Press Forward website.

'You are not letting this story go'

Here's the thing about conspiracy theories. People liken them to 🔥 fires — you'll hear folks saying that MAGA media is "fanning the flames" of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — but that's not quite right. Fires can be extinguished. Conspiracy theories are more like ☢️ nuclear fallout. You can try to decontaminate the area, try to minimize exposure, but the radioactivity lingers for decades. It doesn't go away.

And so it goes with the Epstein obsession among Trump's media allies. While Fox News has taken his plea seriously to stop talking about the dead sex offender, many other MAGA media sources are pressing on, recognizing that the audiences they've built on conspiratorial thinking are simply demanding more, more, more. "You are not letting this story go," Charlie Kirk said yesterday on his radio show. “I know that." Here's our latest write...

HAPPENING NOW

Facebook trial starts today

"An $8 billion trial by Meta Platforms shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders kicks off on Wednesday over claims that they illegally harvested the data of Facebook users in violation of a 2012 agreement with" the FTC, Tom Hals reports for Reuters. Here are all the details. "The lawsuit is considered the first of its kind to go to trial which alleges board members consciously failed to oversee their company..."

The NYT culture desk shuffle

New York Times critics jobs have historically been treated as almost lifetime appointments, which is why this shuffle is getting so much attention internally. Four culture desk critics are being reassigned, including Jon Parales, who has been the chief pop music critic since 1998. Culture editor Sia Michel wrote in a memo that "it is important to bring different perspectives to core disciplines as we help our coverage expand beyond the traditional review." In other words: Michel will be hiring new critics who will be less print-centric. Variety's Todd Spangler has details here...

The Post's Futures bet

The Washington Post is beefing up its Futures desk. In a memo to staffers, Futures editor Zach Goldfarb and his deputy Juliet Eilperin said the desk is looking to add a wide array of tech, business, health, climate and science reporters who can be "national authorities" on "the forces shaping life in the 21st century."

Fox's 'Ruthless' podcast deal

Fox News "has reached a business and editorial licensing deal with the 'Ruthless' podcast," a political talk show that's a big hit among conservatives, Sara Fischer reports for Axios. The deal, which marks the first time Fox has licensed a pod, will see the show's four hosts serve as contributors for the network and is "part of a bigger effort to expand Fox News' opinion podcast slate beyond current offerings." Makes tons of sense. As Ben Smith says, "it's all becoming TV..."

Briefly…

 >> "Lately some of the most influential voices within the so-called manosphere" — including Theo Von and his fans — "have begun expressing concerns, if not outright regret, with Trump's return to Washington," Steve Contorno reports. (CNN)

 >> Nextdoor, in need of a revival, is rolling out a redesign and partnering with "more than 3,500 local news providers who will regularly contribute material," David Bauder reports. (AP)

 >> Streamers did it, so why can't SiriusXM? The satellite radio service is "launching its first cheaper, ad-supported plan" to "capture new listeners." (CNBC)

BBC turmoil continues

The BBC's other presenter of "MasterChef" is now out too: "John Torode has been sacked... after an allegation against him using 'an extremely offensive racist term' was upheld," Noor Nanji reports. Torode denied allegations he'd used the term. The Sun's headline this morning is "CHOPPED" while The Mirror's front reads "BBC'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARE."

 >> Tim Davie, the BBC's director-general, "insisted the cooking show 'absolutely' has a future, adding that it was 'much bigger than individuals.'"

Today's tech talk

 >> European groups are complaining to regulators about X's "use of users' data for targeted advertising that may breach EU tech rules." (Reuters)

 >> Speaking of... xAI says it has "tweaked the prompts" that led to last week's Grok debacle. (TechCrunch)

 >> "As publishers fret about decreased traffic from Google, the search giant has begun rolling out AI summaries in Discover, the main news feed inside Google’s search app on iOS and Android," Sarah Perez reports. (TechCrunch)

HBO Max scores record # of Emmy noms

HBO Max is way ahead on the Emmys leaderboard this year, with 142 total nominations announced yesterday, "a new record for the platform," CNN's Lisa Respers France reports. HBO Max was followed by Netflix with 120 and Apple TV+ with 81. Apple's "Severance" was the most-nominated show...

Curtain call

 >> IMAX tickets for "The Odyssey" will go on sale tomorrow, "an entire year before Universal Pictures' star-studded action epic is slated to hit the big screen." (Variety)

 >> AMC will distribute the Eminem documentary "Stans" in a limited release next month. (THR)

 >> Last but not least, a shoutout to my in-laws, who read about AMC's ticket discount days in yesterday's newsletter and are going to see "Superman" in the theater today. Enjoy! 

This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here.