Public Broadcasting's Uncertain Future

Archive Report

Challenges and Uncertainties

Problems Facing Public Broadcasting Today

Public Broadcasting, financially troubled since its infancy, today is facing a mid-life crisis. Both the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) — the nation's non-commercial, non-profit television and radio systems — could lose 25 percent of their federal funds if Congress approves President Reagan's proposed budget for fiscal year 1982. This threat comes at a time when the chronically underfunded public broadcasting systems are struggling with serious financial troubles stemming from inflation. NPR President Frank Mankiewicz predicts that if the administration's proposed cuts go through as they now stand, all NPR programs will go off the air on Oct. 1, the start of the 1982 fiscal year. PBS President Lawrence K. Grossman has a similar, ...

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