Jul 21
2025
Public broadcasting cuts will harm WBFO
Central to the playbook for dictators dismantling democracies is neutering the press. That’s been at the top of Donald Trump’s to-do list since he retook office in January and that effort gained further traction last week when he strong-armed Congressional Republicans into voting to withdraw $1.1 billion previously appropriated for public broadcasting.
National Public Radio (NPR) is comprised of over 1,000 stations. They provide vital news and information, many serving rural communities who have lost their daily or weekly newspaper to closure.
A recent study found that the number of journalists nationally has dropped from 40 per 100,000 residents in 2002 to slightly more than eight today. That number is going to get worse with downsizing at NPR stations, some of which are likely to close altogether.
That’s part of the MAGA plan, which Steve Bannon articulated in 2021: “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
Accordingly, Americans are bombarded daily with disinformation, much of it facilitated by social media platforms and the likes of Fox News. NPR is an antidote, which the right has wanted to neuter for some time.
The congressional vote last week has implications for Buffalo and Western New York.
Our NPR station, long known as WBFO, recently rebranded BTPM NPR, is going to lose a substantial amount of federal funding. Buffalo-Toronto Public Media, which also includes the television station formerly known as WNED, received $2 million last year from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, which serves as a pass through of sorts for federal funding. That’s a good chunk of BTPM’s $17 million annual budget.
Tom Calderone, president and CEO of Buffalo Toronto Public Media, told WKBW 7 News “the loss of the federal funding is enormous, and it isn’t a quick fix, like, let’s do a pledge drive and we’ll get it all back.”
CNN published a good overview on how the loss of federal funds will impact public broadcasting. Dick Tofel, a driving force behind ProPublica, writes that public broadcasters need to adapt.
Tofel wrote:
I worry especially that too many in and around public broadcasting are reacting to this watershed moment by repeating the critical error made by those metro papers: trying to preserve as much of what has gone before as possible, rather than seizing the moment to reinvent a system, and many of its components, that for far too long had remained unvarying and poorly adapted to a changing media landscape.
The assault on public broadcasting is part of a larger effort by Trump and the radical right to silence independent media.
Here in the United States, Trump sued CBS and ABC news. Both capitulated with large cash settlements even though legal experts said the lawsuits were frivolous. CBS, whose parent company needs the Trump administration’s approval for a sale to another company, doubled down last week by announcing its intent to cancel Stephen Colbert’s late night talk show next year. Colbert has been unsparing in his criticism of Trump and earlier last week described the CBS settlement of the Trump lawsuit as a “big fat bribe.” CBS said its decision to cancel the show was strictly financial, a claim greeted with much skepticism.
Then, on Friday, Trump sued the Wall Street Journal for its story about a birthday greeting he sent to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday that included a sexually suggestive drawing.
Trump’s efforts to stifle the press extend beyond our shores. Trump has also slashed funding for Voice of America and other outlets that broadcast news in countries where a free press has been silenced. Those newscasts reached hundreds of millions of listeners.
Wrote The New York Times:
China, Russia and other U.S. rivals have moved to commandeer the communications space abandoned by the Americans. They have pumped more money into their own global media endeavors, expanded social outreach programs abroad and cranked up the volume when publicizing popular cultural exports.
Foreign policy experts say the Trump administration is not just losing its grip on the global megaphone but handing it off to its eager adversaries. In doing so, they said, the United States is relinquishing its primacy as a global influencer and neglecting its defenses against the damaging narratives and disinformation that could fill the vacuum.
I think Buffalo Business First does a pretty good job covering news of the day. It’s got an impenetrable pay wall unless you subscribe, so I’ll dispense with links and just tell you about a couple of recent stories involving local shopping malls that I found of interest.
Walden Galleria has the most foot traffic (739,300 visits in May) and highest occupancy rate (91 percent). That far outpaces the region’s other largest malls, Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls (183,200 visits, 67 percent) and the McKinley Mall in Hamburg (122,200, 52 percent).
The Boulevard Mall in Amherst is barely open, yet ranks second in the region in attendance (161,200) thanks to the continued presence of anchors such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and J.C. Penny.
This is not to say all is well with Walden Galleria. Its assessed value has declined, from a high of $600 million in 2012 to $219 million today. More pressing: The mall’s owner is behind on a $220 million loan and facing the prospect of a foreclosure by lenders.
A steep drop in Canadians crossing the border to shop isn’t helping. I imagine that’s hitting Fashion Outlets especially hard.
Henry Wojtaszek has himself a new day job, senior counsel at Lippes Mathias. Perhaps he came cheap, given that he exited the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. in December with a $299,000 buyout and lifetime health insurance. A little birdie tells me not everyone at the firm is thrilled with his addition, no surprise given his scandal-ridden tenure at OTB.
Buy your tickets now for our July 31 benefit concert
The Environmental Protection Agency is dismantling its scientific research branch.
Reports The Washington Post:
The move to eliminate the Office of Research and Development, which will prompt the exodus of hundreds of chemists and scientists assigned to conduct independent research on a range of environmental hazards, is part of a push to cut 23 percent of the agency’s staff. Its work, which often underpinned stricter federal regulations, was criticized by chemical manufacturers and other industries.
Call Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades what it is: a concentration camp. Immigrants detained by ICE housed 32 to a cage isn’t the half of it.
Reports The New York Times:
“Several detainees described infrequent showers, meals that amounted to little more than snacks, other detainees falling ill with flulike symptoms and sleep deprivation. They described unrest over a lack of information, recreation and access to medication.”
A report from CNN included this description from a Florida Congress member who gained access to the camp: “They [detainees] are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.”
A spokesman for the state attorney general described the detainees as “monsters,” but only one-third have criminal records.
Paul McCartney is playing the downtown arean in November. Fans will pay through the nose to attend.
You can’t buy a ticket on the floor or lower bowl for less than $563, with $700 to $800 the norm, and $2,836 being the most expensive. Ticket prices for the upper bowl run from $592 to $299. The so-called dynamic pricing scheme means the cost of seats can vary, depending on demand.
By contrast, Bruce Springsteen toured last year and ticket prices even on the resale (read scalper) market started at $50 to $70 for shows in nearby Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The Boss just wrapped up a European tour in which ticket prices ranged from about $95 to $290.
Look, I get it. Paul McCartney. Beatles. But the man has a net worth of $1.2 billion. Does he really need to hold up his fans for this much money?
As John Lennon once sang, how does he sleep at night?