Ken Burns calls it "shortsighted" to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

July 6, 2025 / 10:14 AM EDT


Filmmaker Ken Burns said it's "shortsighted" to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as public media has become a target of the White House in recent months.

"This seems foolhardy and seems misguided, mainly because there is a perception among a handful of people that this is somehow a blue or a left-wing thing," Burns said of cutting funds to PBS in an interview that aired Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

President Trump signed an executive order in May instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the private nonprofit that serves as the steward of the funding to public media, to cease federal funding for PBS and NPR. Then in June, the House approved a request from the White House to claw back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The package is expected to be taken up by the Senate in the coming weeks as the White House has targeted the public media entities, claiming they have "spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'"

Burns, whose upcoming film "The American Revolution" is expected to air on PBS in November and has had more than 40 documentaries on the public broadcaster, told "CBS Evening News" co-anchor John Dickerson that he's worried about PBS' future, noting that he's "always been worried about it."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ken-burns-pbs-cuts-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-trump/

[Attilatheblond]

1. Burns' films teach real history. The fascists don't want people learning real history

No surprise American fascists hate PBS and want to disappear it from America.

[Wonder Why]

2. Stop it, Ken! It's not just "shortsighted". It is another reason why the disgusting TACO has to go.

[Biophilic]

3. Yeah, it's not just short sighted, it's planned destruction.

So many people still believing they live in a reasonable country with reasonable leaders. Take the damn blinders off.

[melm00se]

4. In my experience

less intelligent and populists (which now include American Republicans) look no further than the tips of their collective noses so it is not surprising that they are getting called out for being "short sighted".

[Grins]

5. The word is not 'shortsighted.' It's 'REVENGE!'

It’s what Trump has done his ENTIRE LIFE. He thrives on VENGEANCE!

[maxsolomon]

6. Cool down, Ken!

OMG the overheated rhetoric. He's making it POLITICAL.