Senator John Kennedy is trying to defund public radio and television. He’s introduced a bill that would stop taxpayer money to go toward radio and tv.

The bill is called No Propaganda Act and is a companion bill. Earlier this year Representative Scott Perry introduced this bill that states “To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and for other purposes.” We touched upon this earlier when it was announce Perry would introduce this legislature. However, it has since picked up steam. Elon Musk, who we know by now is in President Trump’s inner circle, and Vivek Ramaswamy have both showed support in defunding radio and tv.

Kennedy isn’t the first to draft legislation trying to defund media outlets such as NPR and PBS. Luckily, we’ve been able to defeat those charges. However, now, with backing by billionaires, it may be more difficult to ignore.

The reason for the accelerated push to make this happen is Trump and Musk’s accusation that public radio and television are biased and do not report correct information. During the recent election, Trump’s camp was concerned he had unfair coverage.

In 1969. President Richard Nixon tried to cut the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s budget in half. Fred Rogers from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood spoke to a congressional committee on reversing the cuts and was heard. Since then, Gingrich, Bush and Trump all pushed to cut the funding for public radio and television.

Luckily, there are those in office who would like to see the funding stay. US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand issued a bipartisan push for $575 million in federal funding for CPB. According to Gillibrand, cutting their funding, “would mean the future of critical educational and news programming could be in jeopardy.”

Yes, we in the radio industry are concerned for our media format, but this effects so much more.