Public media organizations in San Francisco, including KQED and KALW, face potential devastation due to proposed federal budget cuts that could eliminate approximately $30 million annually in funding already allocated to them.
A significant toll would be taken on the Independent Television Service (ITVS), which could see an 86 percent reduction in funding for the next two years if Congress approves the proposed rescissions.
Overall, federal cuts could range from 7 to 10 percent for others in the public media ecosystem, drastically impacting their operations.
President Donald Trump’s proposed rescissions, introduced to Congress on June 3, amount to a sweeping total of $9.4 billion in cuts for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
While Congress has already passed budgets for those years, the process of rescission requires only a simple majority vote, and Congress has a limited window of 45 days to act on these proposals.
Among the most alarming aspects of this proposal is the substantial $1.1 billion cut to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over the next two years, a move that would effectively strip federal funding from the organization.
For San Francisco’s KALW and KQED, the loss of nearly $30 million in CPB support each year would severely hinder their public radio and television programming capabilities.
Organizations in the public media space were already bracing for financial adjustments in forthcoming federal budgets; however, the proposed rescissions have accelerated their timeline for responding to these potential losses.
ITVS, a PBS affiliate that has been producing documentaries since 1991 and is renowned for the Independent Lens series, indicated that these cuts would be life-altering for its operations.
Currently, ITVS relies on CPB for $19.7 million of its annual $23 million budget, leading to drastic measures such as the recent layoff of 13 staff members—20 percent of its workforce—due to ongoing funding uncertainties.
Darren LaShelle, the president and CEO of Northern California Public Media, emphasized the detrimental impact of uncertainty on public media’s ability to serve their communities effectively.
“The uncertainty that’s really the most harmful thing.
Suddenly you’re in survival mode instead of a mode of public service,” LaShelle stated.
KALW, a public radio station that has been a staple in San Francisco since 1941 and provides journalism training programs, currently receives approximately 7 percent of its $6 million annual budget from CPB.
Earlier this year, in anticipation of potential funding losses resulting from an executive order by the Trump administration seeking to limit federal support for NPR and PBS, KALW launched a campaign to solicit public donations.
However, the slight uptick in donations received from that initiative was just a fraction of the $400,000 that the station could potentially lose, according to executive director James Kass.
“The lack of knowledge is the hardest,” Kass remarked.
He further expressed concern about the sustainability of their programming, asking, “How many times can you say that the nightmare is at the door before you start to tune it out?”
As the Bay Area stations grapple with the implications of these cuts, immediate impacts on coverage and staff layoffs appear inevitable.
Kass warned that for KALW, a reduction in funding would likely mean cutting back on international news coverage and hiring fewer local reporters.
Similarly, LaShelle cautioned that Northern California Public Media’s funding cuts could jeopardize critical initiatives like the Center for Environmental Reporting, which was established in response to community demands for more journalism focused on climate change.
Without federal funding, such initiatives thrive on a precarious foundation, as LaShelle noted, “We are not going to be able to replace that funding with local dollars.”
KQED, another NPR station in the Bay Area, stands to lose more substantial amounts, with federal funding amounting to $8 million annually, about 8 percent of its $100 million budget.
KQED’s director of communications and external affairs, Peter Cavagnaro, expressed the weight of these cuts, stating, “Losing this federal funding will make the country less safe, impair access to free educational programming for vulnerable children, and erode public media’s ability to tell the stories that are the fabric of our local communities.”
image source from：https://missionlocal.org/2025/06/public-media-trump-rescission-cuts/
