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President Of PBS Tells WWJ Presidential Proposed Cuts Would Bring 'Existential Crisis'

DETROIT (WWJ) Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, trekked to Detroit from Washington, D.C. today to speak at the Detroit Economic Club.

While she was there, she sat down with WWJs Laura Bonnell to talk about proposed federal funding cuts and what it would mean to public broadcasting. Newly elected President Donald Trump's budget plan calls for eliminating all federal funding for the public broadcast, which would leave it to rely on corporate and private donors.

In-depth documentaries, special programming and iconic shows like "Sesame Street" could go off the air if the budget passes as-is.

"I think some of those would immediately go off the air," Paula Kerger "The consequence is that there are parts of the country that could be without public broadcasting, some of whom are really significant parts of those communities."

She added that PBS, with its emphasis on education, is crucial to low-income families who don't have access to preschool.

The role of public television has never been more important than today, she said. And the proposed federal funding cut would slash about 15 percent of PBS' total spending, Kerger told Bonnell.

"Here in Detroit it's about 9 percent so if the station lost 9 percent that would be disturbing. But for stations in rural parts of the country it represents as much as 50 percent," Kerger said. "For those stations, it's absolutely an existential crisis."

PBS is fighting the budget cut hard, reminding Congress of its historically strong support among both Democrats and Republicans and calling itself an essential national service.

"The cost of public broadcasting is small," Kerger wrote in an earlier public statement, adding, "Only $1.35 per citizen per year, and the benefits are tangible: increasing school readiness for kids 2-8, support for teachers and homeschoolers, lifelong learning, public safety communications and civil discourse."

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