As Donald Trump pushes to defund PBS and NPR, the debate often gets framed as a matter of budgets. He claims public media has a “liberal bias” and argues that taxpayers shouldn’t be supporting such things. But this isn’t just about funding, it’s about preserving one of America’s last shared public goods. Public broadcasting has long been a quiet but powerful part of national life, offering free educational content and fostering informed citizens. Cutting it doesn’t just save money; it chips away at the commons, the idea that some things, like education and access to information, should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford it. While broadcasting networks aren’t the most accurate source of information, they do provide basic connections from around the world. This is especially true for PBS Kids.
For millions of families, particularly in low-income communities, PBS Kids isn’t just a TV channel, it’s a lifeline. It’s where children learn to read, share, and grow up with talking animals who are somehow more emotionally intelligent than most politicians. It teaches values. Cutting it sends a message: if you can’t afford Wi-Fi or a streaming subscription, you don’t deserve quality education. Let’s be honest, if Daniel Tiger teaching kids to love their neighbors is controversial, maybe the problem isn’t the tiger.
Americans overwhelmingly support PBS, especially its children’s programming. There’s a reason for that. PBS Kids provides safe, enriching content where childhood isn’t monetized. It doesn’t sell products, it teaches empathy, kindness, and curiosity. Removing it means taking away one of the few spaces where kids aren’t treated like consumers.
The loss of public broadcasting would also be a loss of national connection. Shows like Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and PBS NewsHour helped generations make sense of the world and their place in it. These programs are part of our cultural vocabulary. Replacing them with algorithm-driven noise designed for engagement, not understanding, weakens that shared experience.
This isn’t only about children. NPR and PBS remain some of the most trusted news sources in the country. They explain headlines instead of chasing them. Defunding them widens the gap between those who can afford high-quality, fact-based information and those who can’t. That’s not only a media issue; it’s a democratic one.
The erosion of public media also weakens our civic life. A healthy democracy depends on informed citizens. Public broadcasting fosters this from an early age, guiding children through foundational lessons in empathy, fairness, and curiosity, and carrying that mission into adulthood with investigative journalism, science reporting, and in-depth political analysis. Removing these resources leaves people less prepared to think critically, vote wisely, or participate meaningfully in society.
Supporters of defunding often claim PBS and NPR reflect elite views. But dismantling trusted, widely-used institutions without replacing them doesn’t challenge power—it just isolates people. Killing PBS Kids doesn’t hurt elites. It hurts the kids who relied on it to learn, to ask questions, to feel seen.
At its core, the push to defund NPR and PBS is a constitutional issue. The First Amendment protects the right to free speech and the public’s access to a free and independent press. NPR says they won’t let such a community be broken apart and they will fight back, saying, “The President’s order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR and locally owned and operated stations throughout America to produce and air programming that meets the needs of their communities.” When a president seeks to silence these media organizations because he disagrees with their content, it sets a chilling example of poor authoritarian leadership. It shows that government funding can be weaponized to suppress the voice of the people or limit the flow of information to the public; they’re punishing journalism that doesn’t conform. Public broadcasters exist to serve the people, not the presidency, and targeting them for political reasons undermines the very foundation of a free society. Defunding public media in this context is exactly the kind of government overreach the First Amendment was written to prevent.
Now, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is suing the Trump administration over his attempt to fire three of its five board members. If he succeeds, he’ll erase the quorum needed to protect funding—potentially clearing the way to eliminate PBS and NPR altogether.
Trump’s goal of defunding public media may not seem like a big deal at first glance. But it’s a dangerous step toward a future where access to education, truth, and community is no longer a given. Maybe we won’t lose it all overnight, but we should be paying attention now.