AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Come Wednesday, all federal funding for public media will cease because of a law that Congress passed this summer, which raises the question, what role will public media play in the future? Well, NPR's David Folkenflik traveled to South Dakota seeking answers.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: I visited a suburb of Sioux Falls on a recent Saturday night. Nothing was bigger than the Harrisburg High School Tigers football game. Aaron Zahn's son plays center, and Zahn's standing before a giant, white fire truck kitted out with four 50-inch TVs which are blaring college games.
AARON ZAHN: We got a stuffed tiger up top - kind of a calling card. It gets the kids excited to see something like that as they come in.
FOLKENFLIK: I asked Zahn where he gets the news.
ZAHN: Mainly just a Fox guy, I guess. So that's about what I - the extent of it.
FOLKENFLIK: Dawn Bures was sipping on a drink nearby.
DAWN BURES: I follow citizen journalists on the internet.
FOLKENFLIK: I asked Bures what she thought of public media losing all federal funding.
BURES: I think that the media can be easily influenced to produce media that leans one way or the other, so I actually think that's probably a good choice.
FOLKENFLIK: Congressional Republicans, urged on by President Trump, pulled back all federal funding for NPR and PBS and the rest of public media that they had already approved. Trump accuses them of left-wing bias - a charge the networks reject. The effect has been pain throughout public broadcasting. PBS has laid off 15% of its workforce. Many stations have laid off more. And it's starting to affect what news and programs audiences can receive. South Dakota Public Broadcasting runs NPR and PBS stations statewide. The state is Trump country, and yet there are nuances on this issue.
NAT VAN GORKUM: Trump is vindictive, as we all know. I'm with the guy.
FOLKENFLIK: I run into Nat Van Gorkum at a take-and-bake pizza shop in Sioux Falls. He runs a warehouse for plumbing supplies.
VAN GORKUM: I think the reason he's doing it is you guys have gone a hell of a long ways to the left in the last five or 10 years.
FOLKENFLIK: Even so, Van Gorkum says he opposes cutting money for public broadcasting.
VAN GORKUM: I grew up watching Mister Rogers, "Sesame Street," stuff like that. That's a good thing.
FOLKENFLIK: Some people alarmed by the cuts tell me they're stepping up to make donations to South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOD SIZZLING)
MICHAEL HASKETT: What am I up to? I'm making a crepe right now - savory.
FOLKENFLIK: Michael Haskett runs the M.B. Haskett Delicatessen in downtown Sioux Falls. He says he depends on public radio to tell him what's happening around the area and around the nation.
HASKETT: Fox News, MSNBC, all of these corporate giants, they're owned by somebody. You don't know what their motives are.
FOLKENFLIK: South Dakota Public Broadcasting just announced big layoffs and the cancellation of some local shows.
HASKETT: So yeah, I'm very upset that we're defunding a very important news source, a very trustworthy news source, because it doesn't fit into one political party's agenda.
FOLKENFLIK: In fact, many folks who told me they agree with the cuts volunteered what they appreciated about South Dakota Public Broadcasting. They cited programming they cannot get elsewhere, the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the state legislature, news affecting farmers and the state's Native American tribes. Oh, and high school athletics.
BURES: I'm grateful that they broadcast our sports.
FOLKENFLIK: Remember Dawn Bures at the tailgate party?
BURES: Yeah, 'cause my dad can't be here, and he can watch via a link for that.
FOLKENFLIK: South Dakota Public Broadcasting airs and streams high school tournaments in all varsity competitions. As station officials scramble to figure out what the future will look like and sound like without federal funding, they tell me high school sports coverage will stick around.
David Folkenflik, NPR News, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
CHANG: And tomorrow on Morning Edition, David takes a look at how the station is responding.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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