Yesterday, Gov. Ron DeSantis exercised his line-item veto authority to eliminate Community Service Grants for local public media organizations in Florida, effective in the state’s fiscal year that begins today. For WJCT Public Media, this equates to an annual revenue loss of $470,000.
Below is Florida Public Media’s statement on the action:
“We are extremely disappointed by the governor’s decision to veto funding for public media.
We have enjoyed broad bipartisan support from the Department of Education, the Legislature and the governor — including Gov. DeSantis — for many years.
Our stations have served Floridians for decades, and our state funding dates back to the earliest days of public broadcasting in the early 1970s. It has been a good partnership and a fruitful investment.
Public media costs Florida taxpayers about 47 cents per resident. Our $11 million budget request was a fraction of a percentage of the state’s overall $115 billion budget.
Roughly half of FPM’s request was for The Florida Channel and the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN). These funds were not vetoed.
The other half would have been utilized by Florida’s locally licensed television and radio stations that carry this important programming, many of which are housed at our state’s universities and colleges. These funds were vetoed.
The Florida Channel, based in Tallahassee, is a nationally recognized public affairs network dedicated to giving Floridians real-time, 24/7 access to their state government, including the governor’s press events and gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Florida Legislature.
The Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN), housed at the University of Florida, is a lifesaving communication network during hurricanes, severe storms and other state emergencies. With state-of-the-art technology, up-to-the-minute weather forecasts and sophisticated radar, FPREN can report for audiences using multiple platforms — radio, TV, social media and the web. Like The Florida Channel, FPREN has been recognized around the country as a leader in public safety communications.
Florida’s radio stations — spread across the state — make up the communications backbone of FPREN. In many cases, they are on the air when disasters hit, providing local news and information when Floridians most need it.
Florida’s TV stations – spread across the state – do not just broadcast quality public affairs and education programming, they also work tirelessly with teachers, parents, homeschoolers and kids in the classroom, in the community and at our stations throughout the state.
We plan to have a dialogue with the governor’s office and the Florida Department of Education to determine if there is a way to address the governor’s concerns, while ensuring Floridians can continue to have access to the programming they turn to for information about their state government, and the resources they depend on during a storm.
We remain dedicated to our mission. We remain committed to our communities. We remain focused on our public service.”