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BEMIDJI — President Donald Trump made his intention to defund the which funds PBS and NPR, clear when he signed the executive order on May 1.

To demonstrate solidarity with — the area's PBS station — and displeasure with the Trump Administration decision, hosted its third peaceful rally in as many months, titled "Save Public Broadcasting," on June 10.

The roughly 70 participants in attendance began the rally at the Lakeland PBS building along Grant Avenue. Attendees then made a short walk to Paul Bunyan Drive, where they remained for nearly two hours. The rally concluded where it began.

Many participants sported "hands off" and "Save PBS" styled signs while others held signs that depicted famous PBS characters, such as Elmo and Big Bird.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

Following the Trump Administration's executive order, PBS and NPR filed separate lawsuits on May 30. Thus, the funding future of each entity is unclear.

But a March 26 Department of Government Efficiency subcommittee hearing, titled could shed light on why the administration is making such a decision.

During the hearing, both PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher were placed under scrutiny due to a perceived promotion of "radical" and "left-wing" viewpoints from each entity.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

However, according to PBS and NPR are among the most fair and balanced media outlets in the country, with near identical reliability scores of 43.41 and 43.1, respectively. This places both outlets in the "Middle or Balanced Bias of the chart."

Additionally, the PBS News Room and the NPR Up First programs sit near the top of the "Skews Left" bracket of the chart. This is the first bracket on the left, which concludes at "Most Extreme Left." The right side of the bracket features similar verbiage detailing right-wing bias.

Ad Fontes Media is a watchdog source deemed reputable by many institutions since its inception in 2018. It analyzes media outlets to determine a political bias, if any, and displays its findings on a Of course, no model can be perfect or account for the ample variability seen within a large network, such as PBS or NPR.

Since PBS and NPR are publicly funded and nonpartisan, they often exist in news deserts — areas with sparse media coverage — as a sole media outlet. A lack of funding could enlarge existing news deserts, which largely impact rural areas.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

The Trump Administration has a solution for this: rely on social media influencers and a broadening media landscape, thanks to the internet, as listed in the executive order.

This is not as easy or reliable as it may seem.

First off, social media influencers exist on social media platforms that may alienate Trump supporters, such as X, YouTube or TikTok.

Additionally, a social media influencer is not held to the same level of scrutiny as an official news outlet, which could aid in the spread of misinformation.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

During the DOGE subcommittee hearing, one main example used to highlight PBS's left-wing bias was that of a drag queen who read to children during a "Let's Learn" program produced by WNET, a television station in New York. The subcommittee claimed that PBS aired the program and aimed it toward children.

In actuality, a clip of the program was accidentally posted on the local New York PBS website by WNET and was promptly removed. The clip was not produced, funded or aired by PBS.

This was one of many falsehoods that have spread online by such social media influencers to promote the Trump executive order.

And the online media space may become worse, thanks to artificial intelligence, which further advances each day, saturating the market with clips that could be entertained as real by influencers.

The subcommittee covered other topics during the hearing and can be viewed in full at

If the executive order is enacted and the CPB loses funding, many fear that it could negatively impact small, rural communities across the U.S.