The local impact of Trump’s media fights

Two big media fights in Washington right now — over funding for public media and the White House press pool — aren’t just inside-the-Beltway skirmishes: They both have big implications for the delivery of news to local communities across the country.

In the struggle over Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, public media officials have stressed that its network of local stations nationwide would be the hardest hit by the cuts, even though Trump-aligned lawmakers have focused on national shows.

In radio, a major impact would be on rural stations, NPR CEO Katherine Maher told Mary Louise Kelly in an interview on All Things Considered. “You could see some of those stations really having to cut back services or potentially going away altogether,” she said.

The same is true with public TV, where officials have emphasized that local stations would bear the brunt of the cuts. Government money provides a higher percentage of station budgets in smaller markets, writes PBS NewsHour reporter Hannah Grabenstein.

As for the White House’s decision this week to cut wire services from their traditionally guaranteed spot in the press pool rotation, the wires point out that local news is dependent on them. “The wire services represent thousands of news organizations across the U.S. and the world over,” an AP spokeswoman said, according to a Reuters story that also noted the local impact.

CNN put it this way: “Ultimately the impacts will be felt by newswire customers, including local news outlets that rely on The AP for just-the-facts coverage because they don’t have White House correspondents of their own.”

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> New from API: Local communities need intergenerational problem-solving — and local news can help

At the American Press Institute, we believe the need for more engaged and informed communities will continue to grow. It’s why we focus on the role the press can play in community and civic life, and in facilitating discussions across communities with all of their varied voices and constituencies. Age is one of the lines of difference we want to help bridge. At our Local News Summit in Denver June 11-12, we will bring newsrooms together to focus on these opportunities with candor and care.

Culture & Inclusion

>> Managing newsrooms through a Trump recession (Dick Tofel’s Second Rough Draft)

Very few of today’s newsroom managers have managed through a “conventional” recession, writes Dick Tofel, meaning they need to think through how that might be done, given today’s economic uncertainty. He offers four suggestions for newsrooms putting together their recession plans. One of them: “Many big companies respond to downturns by cutting employees first. . .  In a newsroom, it makes no sense.”

Community Engagement & Trust

>> ‘Multi-local’ newsrooms aim to get more news to more people (Nieman Lab)

A growing number of nonprofit newsrooms and local public radio stations are forming “hubs,” or networks, that can help them deliver “more news to more communities,” writes Sophie Culpepper. She points to examples in Colorado, Texas and California. The American Journalism Project, which is investing in this model, labels it a “multi-local” or “network” model, Culpepper writes, with the idea of consolidating business operations to enable reporting in multiple communities.

Revenue & Resilience

>> Join us: Diversifying Revenue Q&A: Build reporting beats, capacity with philanthropy 

Table Stakes alumni (including employees of companies that have participated in the program) are invited to join us Wednesday, April 30 at 1 p.m. EDT for a conversation with P.J. Browning, president and publisher of The Post and Courier in South Carolina, about how the organization fundraises for specific reporting beats. Learn more and register here.

What else you need to know

⚖️ Google is a monopolist in online advertising tech, judge says (The New York Times)

🏅 IRE announces its 2024 awards (Investigative Reporters & Editors)

🔮 Substack co-founder shares his vision for the future of journalism (INMA)

🚀 Business Insider founder Henry Blodget launches Regenerator (Adweek)

Weekend reads

+ We must save public media to change it (The Nation)

+ Why the fight for local journalism matters (CJR) 

+ It takes more than facts: Understanding the news avoidance gap (Center for News, Technology and Innovation)

+ Why the White House started making deportation cartoons (The New York Times)