PBS has eliminated almost 100 staff positions over the last several months because of a loss of federal funding, it said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The job cuts include 34 staff members who were notified Thursday that they were losing their jobs, a spokesperson for PBS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Republican-controlled Congress cut $1.1 billion in federal funding for PBS and NPR in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn this unprecedented moment we remain focused on what matters most: ensuring our member stations can deliver quality content and services to communities across America,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New York Times first reported the eliminated positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The July rescissions package cut $9 billion in federal funding, including all $1.1 billion in federal funds that had been approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps support more than 1,500 locally owned NPR and PBS member stations, said in August it would be shutting down because of the loss of federal funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump and some Republican members of Congress have long complained of a liberal bias in news coverage on NPR and PBS, which they have denied. PBS is also known for its children’s programming, including “Sesame Street.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advocates have said the cuts to NPR and PBS threaten vital information to rural communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted against the rescissions package and called the services provided to her sparsely populated state vital and lifesaving, citing broadcast tsunami warnings after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake on July 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An even stronger earthquake, an 8.8-magnitude temblor, occurred off Russia’s eastern coast weeks two weeks later, on July 29, and also caused tsunami warnings for Alaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Murkowski told lawmakers at a committee hearing the two days after that quake that in Sitka, population around 8,300, public radio station KCAW was the only place to broadcast the alert and information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Call it old-fashioned, but when you\u2019re in really remote places and scary things are coming your way, you want to figure out every means that you possibly have to communicate,” Murkowski said Aug. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KCAW, known as Raven Radio, said it faces a 24% budget cut due to the federal funding reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n