“The job of journalism is to speak truth to power,” said Brad Dancer, general manager for WSHU Public Radio.
On Aug. 1, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that it started shutting down its operations in response to a rescissions package and the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill for the fiscal year 2026. The bill excludes the CPB from federal funding that would be distributed to independent organizations like National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and smaller, local broadcasts like WSHU.
On May 1, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling out NPR and PBS by name and announcing his intent to defund public broadcasting that would come to fruition three months later.
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“Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage,” said the executive order, which continued by claiming that neither organization represents current events as such.
Prior to the rescission, subsidized public broadcasting was funded by taxpayer dollars appropriated by Congress to the CPB. However, that cost Americans about $1.40 per year, according to Dancer.
“As a media arts major here at SHU, it is upsetting to hear that the funding has been cut,” said senior Sonia Giusti. “What worries me is what is to come.”
Having swapped out some established programs for less expensive ones this summer, WSHU is facing the fallout of that decision. WSHU received approximately $400,000 a year directly from federal funding, which was about 8 percent of its total budget.
“Indirectly, it’s another $100,000,” Dancer said. “We’re looking at $450,000 to $500,000 in total loss of funding that we either have to make up in expenses or generating new revenue streams.”
While WSHU may continue to look different, it plans to stand the test of time.
With total donor funding at a 20 percent increase and one listenership up eight percent from last year, Dancer is looking ahead to the 2026 fiscal year and working to rethink how WSHU spends its time and money.
“The apprehension for us is we’re going to lose the ability to give our listeners everything we want to give them on the programming side, versus whether or not we’re going to make it,” said Dancer.
He said that the money lost from the rescission was a retaliation of the perceived bias of the aforementioned organizations.
“But the irony of that is, it’s not actually affecting NPR or PBS. It affects all the local television stations,” said Dancer.
While WSHU may remain standing, the consequences for other local broadcasts may be severe. According to Dancer, there will undoubtedly be stations that can’t sustain without this funding.
Dancer, who is on the board of NPR went to Washington, D.C. on two separate occasions to speak to representatives and the Appropriations Committee on behalf of WSHU and other public broadcasts, to no avail.
Even so, efforts to protect free, independent press have galvanized the community. Dancer participates in twice-weekly phone calls with hundreds of participants, including NPR and other general managers—originally meant to organize lobbyists to fight rescission, but now serve to discuss what’s next for the industry post-government funding.
For sophomore media arts major Caroline Garside, the funding cuts are disappointing, but not reason to lose hope.
“It makes me disheartened, but also more motivated and inspired to pursue this path in the hopes of creating a positive impact and keeping this industry going,” said Garside.
“We’re here to keep questioning anybody in power and what they’re doing and why,” said Dancer. “Our job is to make sure that we do the best thing we can and continue to make sure that there’s a new generation of journalism.”
