Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed nationwide calls to defund public media with his budget vetoes, axing about $5.7 million from public radio and television stations June 30.
DeSantis struck out $1.3 million for public radio stations and about $4.4 million for public television stations when signing the state’s 2025-26 budget. The governor vetoed about $567 million in programs and projects overall, which put a roughly $117 billion spending plan into effect July 1.
These cuts included $370,400 to each public television station as recommended by Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., and radio stations that had been allotted $100,000.
Public media funding has made national headlines after President Donald Trump encouraged lawmakers to axe it earlier this year. DeSantis has not weighed in on this discussion; a request for comment is pending with his office.
The Florida Channel, which is funded by the Florida Legislature, is unscathed. It streams the governor’s press conferences, committees and legislative floor sessions and public board meetings to viewers across the state and over cable television.
Public radio stations will be affected – but how?
Yet public radio programs in Florida, including WUSF, WUFT, WLRN and WFSU, will feel the effects of budget cuts. Exactly how, including staff layoffs and whether any programs or stations will disappear, is as yet unclear.
WFSU general manager David Mullins released a statement in May saying the public media station was monitoring the situation and that impacts were uncertain.
WLRN chief executive officer John Labonia said DeSantis’ cuts came as a surprise, the day before their fiscal year began. Labonia said up until DeSantis’ signature, they believed public funding for local stations was still intact.
Labonia called the veto “very disappointing,” but that he believed the station would absorb the loss and still be able to continue its work. He also said he’s unsure the motive from the governor’s office since funds from the public radio emergency network and the Florida Channel were not cut.
Michael Braun, a managing editor for WGCU, wrote in a Facebook post that public media outlets “got the bad news” that DeSantis axed public broadcasting: “We will survive this.”
WJCT president David McGowan said in a statement that he’s “extremely disappointed” with the governor’s decision to veto funds that “have supported the work of local public television and radio stations across the state.”
In 2023, DeSantis vetoed renovations for public radio and television stations, but requests for that money were not in the budget this year. Requests for comment are pending with the Florida Press Association and Protect My Public Media.
Florida follows the national call to cut public media
In May, Trump issued an executive order that “ceases federal funding to NPR and PBS,” saying that his administration would not support “biased and partisan news coverage.”
In response, congressional members in the House voted mid-June to cut federal funding of public media outlets for the next two years. The Senate is pending a vote, but is expected to vote in the first weeks of July.
NPR and three local stations filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Trump administration late May.
The lawsuit says that the president’s order “thwarts Congress’s intent and the First Amendment rights of Plaintiffs to be free from the government’s attempts to control their private speech, and their rights to be free from retaliation aimed at punishing and chilling protected speech, journalistic activities, and expressive association.”
And Christine Diers, the executive director of the Public Media Journalists Association, called this a broader national issue.
She said her organization, which has a membership made up of public media reporters nationwide, is very concerned because “we believe that public media does an excellent job of providing ethical and unbiased coverage in their communities.”
It “just feels like a lot of power for one person to say, ‘Oh well, I don’t like that funding, so we’re just going to take it out of the budget that was passed by a Legislature that was elected by the people,’ ” Diers said of DeSantis.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis slashes public TV and radio funding in 2025 budget
Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
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