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Longtime documentary filmmaker Ken Burns praised the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) as the “Declaration of Independence” for communications while lamenting the loss of its federal funding on Wednesday.
Burns discussed his recent documentary “The American Revolution” on the “Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know” podcast, but the subject eventually turned to President Donald Trump cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund PBS, after Congress passed a federal rescissions package in July.
Burns, whose documentaries have long aired on PBS, said he believes the network will survive without the funding but warned that the impact of the cuts will be felt most in rural states.
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Ken Burns speaks onstage during the New York premiere of PBS’s “The American Revolution,” featuring Ken Burns and Tom Hanks, during the 2025 Atlantic Festival on September 18, 2025, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
“They will now be a news desert,” Burns said. “No one will be covering the school board or the city council meeting. It’s where people are dependent not just on children’s and prime-time schedules but on classrooms of the air and continuing education. I know this doesn’t sound sexy, but you also get emergency warning stuff. What happens as in the tumult of climate change and just the normal pattern of disasters? What happens when you don’t have that signal available?”
He continued, “This is a serious thing. Hugely devastating for Alaska, for the Dakotas, for eastern Tennessee, for lots of other places that really stand a chance of losing this last communication. I actually think that public broadcasting is the Declaration of Independence applied to communications.”
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President Donald Trump signed into law a federal rescissions package that cut funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
PBS CEO Paula Kerger made similar comments in April, warning the White House in a statement that cutting funding to public broadcasting would “devastate” rural areas that rely on emergency services.
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“Rescinding these funds would devastate PBS member stations and the essential role they play in communities, particularly smaller and rural stations who rely on federal funding for a larger portion of their budgets. Without PBS member stations, Americans will lose unique local programming and emergency services in times of crisis,” Kerger said.
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) CEO Paula Kerger warned there would be devastating damage to rural stations without federal funding. (PBS)
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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced in August that it would begin shutting down operations as a result of the spending cuts.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
