Why Trump is defunding NPR and PBS - and suing Rupert Murdoch
Summary
This episode explores Donald Trump's congressional plan to defund public TV and radio, detailing the significant impact on local stations and the historical context of federal funding for public media. It also delves into Trump's extraordinary libel lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, analyzing the motivations behind the suit and the complex, transactional relationship between the two powerful figures.Episode description
Reporting on the place you work is not fun. But it is an occupational hazard for media reporters — particularly for NPR’s David Folkenflik.
That’s because National Public Radio — along with Public Broadcasting Service, its TV counterpart — is quite frequently the target of attacks from critics on the right, who would like the federal government to stop funding it. Now it looks like they’ve gotten their way, and the two networks are going to lose a combined $500 million a year.
So what happens now? And how did we get here? And should the federal government be funding media organizations at all? We discuss.
And, since Folkenflik is also one of my go-to Rupert Murdoch experts, I asked him to stick around and opine about Donald Trump’s libel suit against Murdoch and his Wall Street Journal. Who has more to lose, and who is likely to blink first?
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