What’s in GPB’s Supplement? And will it last?
Update: GPB CEO Bert Wesley Huffman appeared before the Senate Appropriations Higher Ed Subcommittee Thursday afternoon. He described the line item as an update to an eighth grade GA social studies video series dating back to 1994. One Senator asked for participation rates in the materials by schools, which Huffman said he would provide.
No other Senators asked any questions and no one, including Huffman, mentioned last year’s budget cut.
After $1.4 million was cut from Georgia Public Broadcasting’s FY2024 budget late last legislative session, the Georgia House this week added back $300,000 in its version of the state’s supplemental budget.
The increase is listed as “one-time funds for the development of an update to Georgia Stories, a video series that supports teachers in providing the required eighth-grade course on Georgia geography, history, and economics.”
Last year’s cut originated in the state Senate and was initially a whopping $3.7 million before the smaller $1.4 million number was finalized on Sine Die, the last day of the session.
The same Senate appropriations committee began hearings on the House’s supplemental budget Wednesday and its Higher Education subcommittee, which covers the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, meets Thursday afternoon.
I’m unsure if anyone from GPB will be presenting the new request but will be watching to see any questions or statements the Senators make.
The only stated reason for last year’s cut was GPB’s competition with other stations in a media market. That was widely seen as referring to its direct competition with NPR affiliate WABE in Atlanta.
I wrote extensively about the cut and subsequent events last year, including the retirement of its longtime CEO Teya Ryan, the choice of new CEO, and programming changes due to the cut.
The highest profile was the cancelation of Political Rewind hosted by Bill Nigut. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, whose reporters and editors were daily guests on the GPB show, quickly hired Nigut to co-host its own political talk show.
WABE began airing it on its own airwaves last fall.
Kemp’s Proposals Punt
Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget proposals for GPB in both the supplemental and next year’s budget added only money for pay raises that all state agencies are to receive.
Any fight to restore last year’s cut would have to start in the legislature. The House number isn’t a full restoration and is earmarked towards a specific education program, something the legislature insists should be GPB’s core function.
The AJC alleged the cut was political retaliation for news coverage on GPB and an attempt to cancel Bill Nigut. That’s entirely possible, but the AJC’s partnership with GPB did amount to a state subsidy and the AJC’s media reporting is consistently self-serving.
Another plausible target of any political retaliation was GPB’s political reporter who was barred from some state GOP events and openly criticized by MAGA media outlets like the Georgia Star News.
In an interesting move, NPR hired him directly, perhaps relieving some political pressure on GPB.
The Senate subcommittee meets Thursday afternoon.
