Spicer Circulates News Story Predicting Noncom Media Fund Slashing

The White House was not taking issue with a Washington Post story saying the President planned to slash the funding for public broadcasting in his budget, expected to be released Thursday.

In fact, the White House press office was trumpeting the story in an email Tuesday issued by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

In the story—the White House included a link to the online version—the Post says: "Aides say that the president sees a new Washington emerging from the budget process, one that prioritizes the military and homeland security while slashing many other areas, including housing, foreign assistance, environmental programs, public broadcasting and research."

The President has not been shy about attacking news stories he does not like, including in the Post, so the fact that the White House circulated the Post story to other reporters with a link suggests the story squares with the Administration's view of their budget-cutting, Washington restructuring plan.

Earlier in the week, the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump team sent out an online survey seeking input on whether to fund or defund a host of programs, from the UN and sanctuary cities to veterans affairs and arts projects.

(Photo via Cezary PImage taken on March 14, 2017 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.