Is This the End of NPR and PBS?
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Slate
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 July 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Trump administration’s plans to strip funding from PBS and NPR is the latest in a long line of Republican fights against public broadcasting. The House has already voted to take back over a billion dollars it had previously agreed to pay. Will the Senate sign off on it next?
Guest: Brian Stelter, chief media analyst at CNN.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before I tell you about the fight over public media that's unfolding in Congress, |
| 0:11.0 | before I get into which senators are poised to swoop in to protect federal support for their local member stations, and which aren't, I'm going to rewind the clock. |
| 0:20.7 | 55 years. |
| 0:22.9 | More, actually. |
| 0:26.1 | And I'm proud to present Mr. Rogers to you now. |
| 0:30.1 | All right, Rogers, you've got the floor. |
| 0:35.4 | This is footage from 1969, congressional testimony, from Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers. |
| 0:44.2 | Richard Nixon had just become president. |
| 0:46.6 | He was threatening to cut funding for public television and half, even though the whole idea |
| 0:51.9 | of public media was still new. PBS wasn't even founded yet. |
| 0:56.0 | Senator John Pistori of Rhode Island, the guy who's leading this hearing, he seems to have no idea who Mr. Rogers even is. |
| 1:03.0 | How long a program is it? |
| 1:05.0 | It's a half hour every day. |
| 1:07.0 | Could we get a copy of this so that we can see it? Maybe not today, but I'd like to see the |
| 1:13.5 | program. I'd like very much for you to see it. I'd like to see the program itself. Mr. Rogers |
| 1:18.7 | proceeds to practically hypnotize his audience. Could I tell you the words of one of the songs, |
| 1:24.6 | which I feel is very important. Yes. |
| 1:34.3 | He talks about how important it is to teach kids about managing their feelings. |
| 1:37.7 | And then he recites the lyrics to the song, |
| 1:40.4 | What do you do with the mad that you feel? |
| 1:43.3 | What do you do with the mad that you feel? |
| 1:50.5 | When you feel so mad you could bite, when the whole wide world seems, oh, so wrong, and nothing you do seems very right. |
... |
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