Public Media is Dead! Long Live Public Media!

Kelly McBride, senior vice president at The Poynter Institute of Media Ethics and chair of the Newmark Ethics Center at Poynter.

When Congress voted to kill the Corporation for Public Media, some saw it as a death blow for public media in America. And it may yet be, especially for local news, which is 90 percent of public media. In spite of the massive outpouring of support, the system faces significant challenges if it is going to survive. And yet, there is an amazing opportunity to rethink and remake public media in the image of what consumers and communities need now, in the era of streamers and influencers. But can we do it? Will we get it right? And will it last?

BIO: As part of her work, Kelly McBride guides professional news organizations to develop best practices in the service of people and democracy. Since 2020 she has served as the public editor for NPR, where she handles audience questions about NPR’s journalistic credibility. She’s addressed accusations of liberal bias, questions about NPR’s coverage of President Donald Trump and concerns about Nina Totenberg’s friendships with individual Supreme Court justices. In the past, she filled a similar role for ESPN. McBride is a co-editor of The New Ethics of Journalism: Guiding Principles for the 21st Century, and author of several articles on media ethics for The New York Times, BBC, CNN, and Washington Post.