While Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to cut $87.5 million of the $175 million one-time education funding the legislature approved attracted significant attention and headlines, it was just one of 46 line-item vetoes totaling $200 million. This is the fourth in a series taking a look at some of the other vetoes beyond the budget line language and figures.
THE VETO
Dunleavy denied $1 million intended to restore funding for rural public radio.
WHY IT MATTERS
Alaska’s 26 public radio stations serve over 90% of the state’s population. In rural Alaska, public radio is the most effective way to communicate, often providing the only coverage of local, regional and statewide news with stations serving as the trusted source for community information and critical health and safety information.
“Public media in rural Alaska isn’t an alternative to other media service. It is often the only daily local source of critical health and safety messaging,” Mollie Kabler, executive director of CoastAlaska Inc. told NPR. “News reporting by local reporters known in their communities is an antidote to distrust of the media and the proliferation of misinformation.”
Public radio’s importance has only increased in the last 20 years, with many small local newspapers going out of business or to online-only versions with less content. Additionally, around 60,000 Alaskans lack broadband access entirely, while 200,000 Alaskans have limited access to broadband that is often too slow to stream videos, according to Alaska Tribal Spectrum, a tribally owned nonprofit working to bring high-speed internet to rural Alaska.
“We’re the only radio station for hundreds of miles,” KOTZ News Director Desiree Hagen told Alaska’s News Source. “Like, we’re the only source for people to get information if they’re not in a place with internet access.”
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Public broadcasters in Alaska have seen a drastic cut in state funding over the years, with a peak of nearly $8 million in 1986. Since 2019, Dunleavy has made public radio funding a yearly target of his veto power including the $1 million in funding approved by state legislators in May.
Vetoes often have a compounding effect on public radio station budgets, erasing matching federal matching funds. Federal CARES Act funding helped bridge the gaps created by Dunleavy’s vetoes, but that money won’t last forever.
As an override is unlikely, vetoes will force stations to find other sources of funding or make the hard choices to lay off staff or reduce some full-time staff to part-time.
BOTTOM LINE
Dunleavy’s consistent vetoes of public radio funding weaken a critical source of news that countless Alaskans rely on for public health and safety news.
