DPE Statement for Record for DOGE Subcommittee Hearing on NPR/PBS
March 25, 2025
Dear Chairwoman Greene and Ranking Member Stansbury,
On behalf of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I wish to share our perspective on the importance of public media and the need for Congress to continue funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
By way of introduction, DPE is a coalition of 24 national unions representing over four million professionals in nearly every sector and industry. Members of six DPE affiliate unions – American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) – work for public television and radio stations across the United States, and on productions created for these outlets. Union members in public media are local reporters, broadcast journalists, writers, editors, producers, control room operators, directors, stage managers, audio and video engineers, technicians, makeup artists, hair stylists, stagehands, performers, musicians, accountants, and graphic designers, among other roles.
Union professionals working on air and behind the scenes across public media demonstrate the economic case for continued, full CPB funding. These are everyday, middle class Americans who are able to sustain careers that provide family-supporting pay, health insurance, and retirement security. They are part of the more than 19,000 people living in big cities and small towns who make real public media’s mission to educate and inform by creating quality, often local, content that is available to virtually every American.
Indeed, for many of these professionals, a commitment to public media’s mission is the reason why they have passed up on more lucrative opportunities in commercial media. They are proud to contribute to quality educational children’s programs, to tell stories about the uniqueness of the American experience, and to take part in their local public media stations’ community enrichment initiatives. Union public media professionals know that the programs they help create – including well-known, long-running public television shows like This Old House, American Masters, and Antiques Roadshow, and popular public radio shows like American Routes – are meaningful to their communities and the American public. Public media union professionals also hold themselves to rigorous ethical standards, a virtue recognized by Americans consistently saying they trust public media.
For some union members, public media has served as an entry point to careers in commercial media, particularly people who grew up in rural areas far from the country’s larger media markets. Local public television and radio stations provided these individuals opportunities to develop valuable technical skills, gain on-the-job experience, and build professional connections.
In closing, I urge this Subcommittee to recognize the economic value of CPB funding and to appreciate the contributions of the professionals who work in public media across the United States. Slashing funding for any part of public media will cost jobs and economically hurt everyday people, while disadvantaging Americans who currently enjoy and benefit from public media programming.
If you have any questions, please contact me or DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director Michael Wasser.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President