If there was a moment’s doubt that there is a determined effort out of the Trump administration to upend independent, fact-based news reporting in America, the clawing back by Congress of $1.1 billion in already approved funding to public media across this country dispels any illusion.
Our deep concern goes out to public radio and TV stations, especially those in small towns where local funding and programming are most limited.
This won’t be easy either though at the combined WBEZ/Sun-Times nonprofit newsroom or at WTTW. Like many of you, many of us at Growing Community Media are already donors to these essential Chicago news operations. And we’ll likely try to dig a little deeper. Hope you will, too.
Growing Community Media receives no dollars from the federal government. So we don’t face any loss of revenue.
What’s clear to us though is that building out a model for sturdy, authentic local news in America has never been more important than right this minute. And our nonprofit model relies on you, each reader, to consider investing in our reporters, in our hard work.
We choose to see this as an additive process. We want you to support BEZ. Now. And we want you to become a monthly recurring donor to the Journal, Austin Weekly, the Review in Forest Park or our Riverside-Brookfield Landmark. A monthly donation at any dollar amount is valuable to us.
All of us, right now, need more reporting, more eyes, more holding power to account.
Stand up straight with public media and Growing Community Media.