Local candidate TV forums in Tri-Cities are a casualty of Trump PBS cuts
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NWPB will not broadcast 2025 general election forums after losing funding, time restraints.
- Federal budget cuts close CPB, disrupting local journalism and voter outreach.
- League of Women Voters will host in-person meet-and-greet sessions in Tri-Cities.
Northwest Public Broadcasting will not record or broadcast popular candidate forums in the Tri-Cities for the general election as it reels from federal funding cuts.
Voters in Benton and Franklin counties will have nearly 130 local candidates to choose from, as well as tax measures and a Richland city charter change to consider, on the Nov. 4 ballot. That includes races for city councils, school boards, fire districts and port commissions.
For years, the League of Women Voters of Benton-Franklin Counties has teamed up with NWPB to host, broadcast and publish online forums with candidates seeking public office.
Its forums covering the August primary a couple of months ago received hundreds of views online from curious voters tuning in to learn about the issues.
That will change this year, said Annie Warren, director of content for NWPB, after the federal government approved cuts that eliminates the money it received through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The cuts amount to 21% of the total annual revenue the small Eastern Washington station receives.
“Due to the loss of funds, which amounts to nearly $2 million annually in grants and support services for NWPB, combined with advanced planning time needed by the League for the candidate forums, NWPB could not commit to co-host candidate forums for the general election this fall,” Warren said in a statement to the Tri-City Herald.
In addition to the forums, the federal funding helped the station support free local journalism, education programs, maintain rural coverage and accessibility and provide emergency alert services.
Instead of the usual question-and-answer debate-style forums, three candidate meet-and-greets are planned next week.
Beverly Johnson-Torelli, a League board member, says they’re still searching for individuals to help record events in Kennewick and Pasco to post to the League's website and Facebook page.
The meet-and-greet sessions are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.:
- Monday, Sept. 29, at the Richland Public Library, with candidates for Richland City Council, Richland School District, Port of Benton, West Richland City Council and West Richland mayor.
- Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Mid-Columbia Libraries’ Pasco branch on Hopkins Street, with candidates for Pasco City Council, Pasco School District and Port of Pasco.
- Friday, Oct. 3, at Mid-Columbia Libraries’ Kennewick branch on Union Street, with candidates for Kennewick City Council, Kennewick School Board and Port of Kennewick Commission.
Small groups of candidates will rotate every 10 minutes at the meet-and-greets. Audience members will have the chance to meet with each group and ask them questions about their candidacy.
“We really have depended on and appreciated the broad outreach and education that NWPB has afforded us since 2020. We’re disappointed they’re not receiving the federal funding, and we hope they’ll be able to afford the broadcasting of the League forums in the future,” Johnson-Torelli said.
Individual donors are playing a larger role in funding public media this year after Trump approved cuts that effectively fully defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, which has aired news and education programs for nearly six decades.
Trump has called CPB biased, its model outdated and “corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
The corporation — which has historically funded programs such as NPR’s “All Things Considered” and PBS’ “Sesame Street” — announced plans to wind down operations after the funding expired in the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
The cuts are being felt throughout Washington. Just this week Cascade Public Media, the PBS affiliate in Seattle, announced it would end its deep-dive journalism that touched on issues affecting communities, both rural and urban, around the Evergreen State.
Cascade PBS lost 10%, or about $3.5 million in annual revenue, with the CPB cuts. In response, the affiliate chose to lay off 16 employees and eliminate a total of 19 positions. It will continue to offer beloved programs, including “Mossback’s Northwest” and “Nick on the Rocks.”
Warren says NWPB will continue to share the League’s event schedule with its audiences and is supporting voter registration by hosting a booth at an Oct. 23 movie screening in Richland of “The American Revolution,” by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt.
“NWPB has a mission of educating, enlightening and informing audiences and hopes to co-host candidate forums again in 2026. Residents can show their support for future VOTE programming by donating at nwpb.org/support. Program sponsors are also welcome. Inquire at info@nwpb.org,” Warren said.
Mid-term elections next year will feature candidates running for Congress, the state Legislature and county offices.
Johnson-Torelli says they could use NWPB’s support to help educate voters about those races.
The League of Women Voters of Benton-Franklin Counties has also historically had support from local government access programs, including Richland CityView and Pasco City TV.
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
