Are Books Hurt By Congress Defunding PBS & NPR?

 

 

Congress recently voted to defund a half-billion dollars in annual allocations to public media, namely PBS - TV and NPR - Radio. This could alter the media landscape, impacting not only what society consumes, but how the book industry promotes its books.

Government funding accounted for some of the fund sourcing at many PBS and NPR stations. Scores of them could shut down as a result of the budget shortfall. Others will have their programming impacted, even if the lights are not turned off.

Already running on a barebones budget from donations and government scraps, public broadcasting is now being asked to dance on one leg.

Interviews with authors and writers on public broadcasting shows help inform the public and sells books. We cannot afford a loss of either.

A half-billion dollars amounts to a buck fifty for every American. Who can’t afford that? For so little, we can get so much.

So why did these stations get defunded? The House, Senate, and White House all turned Republican in 2025. The right wing feels public broadcasting does not represent its interests, that it is liberal in nature. Conservatives generally do not believe in the public funding of the arts either. In the spirit of DOGE, public media was axed, even though the bloated budget that was recently passed by Congress will explode the debt by trillions over the next few years.

So, we have an act of Congress that saved very little but a big wound was suffered at the hands of media, citizenry, and book publishing. But this blow will need to be absorbed and somehow, public media must go on.

The solution may end up consisting of  one or more of these things:

* PBS and NPR could change their economic models and no longer be free
* More donors will step up to fill the hole but may unduly influence programming
* Some stations will close and some programming will be diluted
* Stations will get sold to corporations and alter the content aired
* Foreign money could pour in, potentially tainting programming
* More syndicated content will be aired on local affiliates, which is like a small town letting chains replace mom and pop stores

Maybe a model can be found that not only protects the existing stations but expands the total number of them. Wouldn’t it be cool if the assault on public broadcasting actually led to its growth?

 

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over four million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 4.7 million pageviews. With 5,400+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs  by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum