Public media outlets, including those that serve Marylanders, are bracing for a future void in federal funding they’ve come to depend on.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end direct funding for NPR and PBS, calling such support “outdated, unnecessary,” and harmful to the “appearance of journalistic independence.” The order also claims neither outlet offers a fair or unbiased view of current events.

Although Congress — which controls the budget — has funded the CPB through September 2027, defunding it could still affect Baltimore Public Media, Maryland Public Television, and the communities that rely on them.

“Our goal, at the end of the day, is to serve the community with the best possible content that challenges, that informs, that enlightens, that shows the arts and the culture and the humanity of the community while uplifting the voices of many that aren’t regularly heard,” Craig Swagler, the president and general manager of Baltimore Public Media, told The Baltimore Banner. “And that’s why I think it’s critical, in a time when we’re so divided, when the world is so divisive, when people are retreating to affirmation versus information, that public media exists.”

Baltimore Public Media serves Baltimore, Frederick, Ocean City and Towson through WYPR, WYPF, WYPO and WTMD respectively. According to Swagler, the stations receive money based on their audience members and markets such that smaller stations get more to subsidize their costs.

Six percent of Baltimore Public Media’s budget, or about $600,000 annually, comes from the CPB, Swagler said. Baltimore Public Media expects to receive around $2.5 million from the CPB over the next four years, but Swagler said they are preparing for “a potential hole.”

“I believe, others may not, that it is more of a question of when, than if, that funding will go away,” Swagler said.

Right now, Swagler said, Baltimore Public Media has the necessary funding to ensure no disruptions to their programming and staff for at least the next year. Back in February, they started the "Fortifying The Future” campaign to get ahead of potential funding cuts.

On Thursday, a week after the executive order was signed, Baltimore public Media ran an on-air pledge drive encouraging listeners to donate to the campaign. Swagler said they’ve raised $1.2 million.

MPT president and CEO Larry D. Unger expressed concern for potential public media funding cuts and how that would impact the Marylanders they serve.

“MPT makes a difference in the lives of people throughout our viewing area, with our trusted educational content for children, our wide range of Maryland-focused programming, and lifesaving public safety services through the PBS WARN system, to name just a few of the resources we provide to residents,” Unger said in a statement. “Federal funding supports these priorities and makes it possible for us to be a lifeline to our local communities.”

Patricia Harrison, the president and CEO of CPB, said in a news release that the organization is a nonprofit authorized and funded by Congress, not a federal agency beholden to the president. The executive order came a few days after the CPB sued Trump, the Office of Management and Budget and the White House Presidential Personnel Office for removing three board members.

“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” Harrison said. ”In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors.’"

NPR’s president and CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement that the organization would challenge the executive order.

“We will strongly defend our work and our editorial independence and will continue to tell the stories of our country and the world with accuracy, objectivity, and fairness,” Maher said.

In March, Maher and Kate Riley, the president and CEO of American Public Broadcasting Stations, the national advocacy arm of PBS, were questioned by Congress concerning “biased news coverage.”

Riley said they are reviewing the executive order and working to prevent negative outcomes, per a news release.

“These restrictions would be particularly damaging to local stations serving smaller, more rural communities that rely on federal funding for a higher percentage of their budget,” Riley said. “These services are essential for the American people and worthy of the federal investment in public media.”