When Congress yanked $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with the Rescissions Act of 2025 (H.R. 4), it wasn’t just big names like PBS and NPR that lost support—it threatened Georgia Public Broadcasting’s 65-year role as Georgia’s public media anchor.
💥 GPB Funding Update
In a historic and challenging move, Congress voted to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under the Rescissions Act of 2025 (H.R. 4), rescinding $1.1 billion previously allocated to more than 1,500 public media stations—including GPB.
GPB relied on $4.2 million in federal funding—10% of its annual budget. Nearly intact donor and state support helped maintain stability this year, but these cuts open a gap that threatens public radio, classroom content, community sports coverage, and critical emergency messaging.
🤔 What’s Happening
- GPB leadership has run contingency models, but even the leanest budgets can’t absorb this magnitude of cuts.
- Without increased giving or emergency funding, public service broadcasts—especially in rural areas—are at risk.
- The fiscal shockwaves are already rippling through GPB’s planning for 2025–26.
🔍 Between the Lines
GPB is more than a media outlet—it’s Georgia’s voice in crisis, classroom and community. Cutting those funds is more than budget gymnastics; it’s untethering an institution from its people.
📚 Catch Up Quick
- Federal blow: $1.1 billion CPB strip-out hits annually.
- Local hit: GPB loses $4.2 million, 10% of its overall revenue.
- State support: Georgia General Assembly funding remains flat.
- Community lifeline: Individual donations now more critical than ever.
🌍 The Big Picture
This move isn’t happening in a vacuum. Across the country, public media faces growing threats from partisan budget targets to digital competition.
🗣️ GPB Speaks
“Since its inception 65 years ago, GPB has belonged to Georgians who have relied on it to bring them high‑quality educational programming, unbiased local news, homegrown sports and entertainment as well as emergency public safety messages. We are not about to stop now.”
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Before You Dismiss This Article…
We live in a time when information feels overwhelming, but here’s what hasn’t changed: facts exist whether they comfort us or not.
When A&W launched their third-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder in the 1980s, it failed spectacularly. Not because it tasted worse, but because customers thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If basic math can trip us up, imagine how easily we can misread complex news.
The press isn’t against you when it reports something you don’t want to hear. Reporters are thermometers, not the fever itself. They’re telling you what verified sources are saying, not taking sides. Good reporting should challenge you — that’s literally the job.
Next time a story makes you angry, pause. Ask yourself: What evidence backs this up? Am I reacting with my brain or my gut? What would actually change my mind? And most importantly, am I assuming bias just because the story doesn’t match what I hoped to hear.
Smart readers choose verified information over their own comfort zone.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
