Public media has a target on its back once again, but this time the storm feels harder to navigate for Margaret Low.

The WBUR CEO remembers working as a producer on All Things Considered in the 1990s as House Speaker Newt Gingrich championed a plan to abolish federal funding of public broadcasting. It was the latest Republican-led attempt to claw back funding for the congressionally-created Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes federal funds to the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio, and directly to local public broadcasting stations.

Since Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, creating the CPB, it has faced attacks from the right. But President Donald Trump’s May 1 executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, claiming “ideological bias,” comes at a precarious time for the public media ecosystem.

“It feels very different now,” Low said on The Codcast. “The many compounding issues are more challenging now. I mean, this is the most challenging moment for journalism that I’ve ever seen.” 

Low talked with CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith about the role of NPR in the local news ecosystem, finding a sustainable model for public media in an increasingly partisan political environment, and the upcoming WBUR Festival marking 75 years of the station.  

Even before Trump’s recent statements, public media has faced chronic underfunding and existential threats. Institutions across the country, including in Massachusetts, have been handing down layoffs and buyouts as revenue shrinks and listeners decline.

NPR stations are funded by a patchwork of sources – largely corporate sponsorships and fees for its programs from member organizations and stations. Today, NPR receives only about 1 percent of its operating budget directly from the federal government, though certain stations are more reliant on CBP funds. But with sustainable funding on a razor’s edge, station heads note that any financial threat is a serious one. 

The posture of the public radio stations is complicated. While courts have mostly paused waves of Trump administration moves to slash funds authorized by Congress and dismantle large swaths of the federal workforce, targeted institutions say the uncertainty is destabilizing on its own. Low said WBUR and other NPR stations have to “brace for what’s possible, but we also have to keep doing what we do.” 

For institutions that would like to leave the politics to the page, political advocacy to preserve funding is now a baked-in obligation for public media heads. 

“Look, we know that independent public journalism is in the crosshairs,” Low said. “We know that PBS, NPR, and member stations are a prime target. Our job is to make sure that the people who may ultimately vote on whether federal funding is continued understand the power and the purpose and the mission of public media.” 

During the episode, Low discusses the current assault on public media coming from the Trump administration (3:00), the core values of public media in partisan times (9:30), and what makes these organizations credible and essential when radio stations are some of the only local media options in certain communities (20:00).