3 Ways You Can Help Public Media This Summer

By Jenna |

Congress
120911_capitol_hill_ap_605

US Capitol – Photo Credit: AP

Your federal lawmakers will be heading home from Washington, D.C. next month for the August recess and we need your help today. As Congress makes funding decisions for public media, please help us tell your Members of Congress about the importance of federal funding for your local public media stations.

Here are three ways you can help:

1. Contact Your Member of Congress.

August recess is a great opportunity to connect with your federal lawmakers about the issues you care about. We hope that you will email your Members of Congress to show your support for public media. It’s important to remind Congress of the importance of federal funding for your local public media stations.

This critical money enables local public television and radio stations to provide their communities with a host of essential services in lifelong learning, news, public safety, music, culture and many more. The federal contribution to public media amounts to $1.35 per American per year. Eliminating this funding would have no impact on the nation’s debt, but the loss to local communities across the country would be devastating. Many communities would lose access to free, local broadcast media, and many more would lose access to their local public media stations.

2. Tell Us Why You Love Public Media.

We need your help on sharing why you personally love your local station and your favorite programs. Did you know that public radio and television stations provide more than 98% of our nation’s population with free programming? Our public media system is a collaboration of 1,300 local non-commercial radio and television stations that work together with national and local producers and community partners to provide all Americans with the most trusted non-commercial programming in the country. Public media stations are locally owned and managed by local professionals that are committed to addressing the needs of their local listeners.

As a result, public media is a direct reflection of your community. So let us know what your station means to you. We’re constantly building our case to tell Congress why public media matters to individuals and families throughout the country. Please submit a testimonial to the Protect My Public Media site. It takes as little as three minutes. All you have to do is submit a picture or video or a few words about why your local station matters to you. Click here to submit a testimonial. You can read what others are saying about their favorite stations and programs by clicking here. The more stories we have from public media fans like you, the better story we have to tell to Congress.

3. Invite your friends and family to become public media activists.

Thank you for supporting the public media stations and programs you love. Know anyone else in your life that can’t live without This American Life or Downton Abbey?  Please invite the public media fans in your life to sign up to for e-mail updates, “like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Please take the time to share our website, posts, tweets and updates with your family and friends. We hope to expand the conversation about the importance of public media to new audiences. The more voices we have, the more successful we will be in protecting public media now and in the years to come.

Thank you for standing up for the local stations and programs you love. Together, we can protect public media for future generations.