The cynic in me says that at least the House has already demonstrated a preference for the short term based on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed recently. There might be hope for public media in the Senate, but the rescissions package is only one more obstacle - after that is the full budget appropriation later this year, and the White House has already chosen CPB among others as entities to disband.
I live in Asheville - people may not realize that when Helene struck Western NC, the data lines feeding every single cell tower around Asheville were damaged, along with power lines, phone lines, water pipes, etc. There was absolutely no way for us to even place a simple call for days. The only way we were able to get information was by listening to Blue Ridge Public Radio. I've never really been in that situation before and I hope I never have to again.
Alex, this is exactly what I mean about infrastructure collapse - your Asheville experience during Helene is the perfect example of what happens when communities lose that emergency broadcasting backbone. Blue Ridge Public Radio wasn't just giving you news, it was demonstrating in real time how resilient information systems work when everything else fails.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill" reference is spot on too - short-term budget theater over long-term infrastructure investment. And you're right about the double threat: even if this rescission fails, CPB is already on the chopping block for the full budget cycle.
What's particularly telling about your Helene experience is that it shows how public media serves as both emergency infrastructure AND educational infrastructure - people learned firsthand about communication systems, disaster response, and community resilience just by depending on that signal to survive.
Thanks for sharing this - it's exactly the kind of on-the-ground reality that cuts through all the policy abstractions.
The cynic in me says that at least the House has already demonstrated a preference for the short term based on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed recently. There might be hope for public media in the Senate, but the rescissions package is only one more obstacle - after that is the full budget appropriation later this year, and the White House has already chosen CPB among others as entities to disband.
I live in Asheville - people may not realize that when Helene struck Western NC, the data lines feeding every single cell tower around Asheville were damaged, along with power lines, phone lines, water pipes, etc. There was absolutely no way for us to even place a simple call for days. The only way we were able to get information was by listening to Blue Ridge Public Radio. I've never really been in that situation before and I hope I never have to again.
Alex, this is exactly what I mean about infrastructure collapse - your Asheville experience during Helene is the perfect example of what happens when communities lose that emergency broadcasting backbone. Blue Ridge Public Radio wasn't just giving you news, it was demonstrating in real time how resilient information systems work when everything else fails.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill" reference is spot on too - short-term budget theater over long-term infrastructure investment. And you're right about the double threat: even if this rescission fails, CPB is already on the chopping block for the full budget cycle.
What's particularly telling about your Helene experience is that it shows how public media serves as both emergency infrastructure AND educational infrastructure - people learned firsthand about communication systems, disaster response, and community resilience just by depending on that signal to survive.
Thanks for sharing this - it's exactly the kind of on-the-ground reality that cuts through all the policy abstractions.