Sen. Dan Sullivan, who has long promised to support public broadcasting, voted to strip $1 billion in public funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting starting in October.
Promises aside, Sullivan will do whatever Donald Trump wants him to do.
Trump threatened last week that he would oppose any member of Congress who voted to support the “monstrosity” of public broadcasting.
“I think that that influenced my colleagues, and I think that that’s unfortunate,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski said of Trump’s threat.
But Sullivan has long been under the influence of Trump and knows how to follow orders.
Sullivan’s opposition to public broadcasting and his promises of support for public broadcasting are sure to be a key issue in Sullivan’s 2026 reelection campaign, along with his vote to support more than $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.
Rather than standing up and taking responsibility for defunding public broadcasting, Sullivan is having his mouthpiece, former journalist Amanda Coyne, provide cover.
She claims that some federal funding will be taken from somewhere in the federal budget to give some money to some stations and make everything better.
These promises should be given the same weight as Sullivan’s pledges of undying support for public broadcasting.
A couple of days ago, Coyne issued a statement for her boss claiming that the Trump administration had already made a deal to help Alaska stations.
“Because of the importance of public radio for rural Alaska, for years Senator Sullivan has been an advocate for funding for our rural stations, and has been working for the last number of weeks with his Senate colleagues and senior White House officials on alternative sources of funding to help keep rural radio stations on the air,” Coyne said. “Today, the administration committed to continued funding to help support our most rural stations.”
What does “most rural” mean? How much? Why is there nothing in writing? No answers from Coyne or her boss. It’s pure puffery.
Coyne appears to be talking about allowing Alaska stations to compete for less than $10 million in grants that South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds claims will be available based on a Trump administration pledge to “find Green New Deal money that could be reallocated to continue grants to tribal radio stations without interruption.”
Rounds, who was interested in tribal radio stations in his state, refused to support the Republican repeal bill until he received a pledge from the Trump administration about the backroom deal. The money is supposed to go to tribes, handed out by the Department of Interior, he claimed.
Will some of that end up in Alaska? Maybe. But not much.
The Anchorage Daily News has the best coverage by far of the slippery excuses and flimsy claims emanating from Sullivan and Coyne about what Sullivan says he will do to make up for his decision to defund public broadcasting.
According to Ed Ulman, president of Alaska Public Media, Alaska stations would lose more than $20 million a year under the plan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich the Third supported that will become law.
“The state would not be able to fill in, Ulman said. Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed public broadcasting funding every year starting in 2019, with the exception of this year, when the Legislature did not fund the grants for public radio in the budget. Even before the state’s contribution was eliminated, it amounted to just over $2 million annually,” Anchorage Daily News reporter Iris Samuels wrote Monday.
On Thursday, Coyne told the Daily News there are 11 “Native” radio stations in Alaska that may be able to get some of that $10 million that is supposed to be diverted from the Green New Deal for tribal radio grants sought by Rounds.
Perhaps she is talking about the 11 radio stations in Alaska that get more than half of their funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They are not “Native” stations.
“Coyne did not say which 11 Alaska stations qualify as ‘Native’ (only one Alaska station — KNBA in Anchorage — is owned by an Alaska Native corporation, and no Alaska stations are directly owned by tribes). Coyne also did not say how many other stations across the country would be competing against Alaska’s 11 eligible stations for the $10 million in funding, which amounts to less than what Alaska’s 27 stations receive in a single year,” the Daily News said.
Sullivan and Coyne are making it up as they go along, desperately trying to protect Sullivan from the consequences of his vote and hiding his clear broken promise.
“In Alaska, public radio is essential, especially in rural areas,” Sullivan said in April in a “Dear Constituent” form letter about his stand on public broadcasting.
“This is why I have again signed a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee requesting continued support and two-year advance funding for CPB. Additionally, I will continue to work with the current administration to stress the importance of public broadcasting in Alaska and nationwide,” Sullivan said in April.
Sullivan voted this week to end the funding that he promised to support. He lied.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
