On MSNBC, Angelo Carusone discusses impact of cuts to NPR and PBS on smaller communities
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From the May 2, 2025, edition of MSNBC's MSNBC Prime
ALICIA MENENDEZ (HOST): Let me tell you, Angelo, what I'm going to feel as a mom to a five-year-old and an eight-year-old, I'm going to feel these cuts to NPR and to PBS. I don't know if he's against "Arthur," if it's "Alma's Way" that is stuck in his craw. What is it that they are trying to do here, Angelo, by attempting to defund this, knowing that that authority does not actually rest with them?
ANGELO CARUSONE (MEDIA MATTERS PRESIDENT): It's part of a larger -- right, of course. I mean, at this point, they keep taking these actions that are in this case explicitly illegal, and that's a throwaway at this point because it becomes so much of a reflex of this administration. And what they're out of is part of this larger plan, right, which is to target anything that they feel is oppositional. And that's where we, you know, as we get closer to the midterms, there's an irresistible temptation, which I know is true, to think about this in the standard political terms, but I just want to caution everyone that this is different. This is not just another election. They are on an authoritarian run here. They are trying to reshape our country using government in a way that reshapes our culture and what our government represents. They're not -- they're trying to take away so much of the basic protections and freedoms that we took.
So what's at issue with CBS and PBS and NPR? One, revenge. They've always hated them. The right-wing media has always targeted them as one of the villains because they're a truth teller. And then another part of that is, remember, most of the stations that will be affected are in -- are not the big cities, but actually in the smaller communities, the smaller stations, the rural areas are the ones that are going to get hit the hardest from that. Taking away alternative voice just gives Trump and the rest of the right-wing media more power, enhancing their narrative dominance, and that, to me, is a big part of it. They're getting rid of the checks, not just legally, but also in the court of public opinion.