More than 95 percent of Americans can get public broadcasting’s over-the-air signals, according to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 195 Widely popular PBS news programs include “Frontline” and “NewsHour.” NPR is a key radio news source for many Americans, typically reaching more than 37 million people every week, with national news programs such as “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” 194 Americans have long rated PBS and its member stations among the most trusted institutions in the country, ranking above the court system, as well as commercial broadcasting outlets and newspapers. This included 406 NPR stations, 144 affiliated with PBS, five with Pacifica, and 50 affiliated with APM or jointly affiliated with APM and NPR. Based on an assessment of the material on their websites, about half of those outlets – 608 – were producing original content, including news shows that focused on either state or local news. The research focused specifically on identifying the public broadcasting stations that provided either national or locally produced news programming. In an effort to understand how and where public broadcasting might step in and provide local news coverage, UNC researchers collected data on more than 1,400 outlets, including some 1,100 radio stations and 350 television stations. Yet the stations are constrained by a number of factors, including available funding and staffing, as well as decades-old federal mandates to entertain and educate, as well as inform. Because the stations are locally controlled and operated, the stations have the flexibility to meet the unique information needs of the communities where they are located. Its stations are easily accessible over the air throughout much of the country, especially in areas that lack high-speed internet access. As the two comments suggest, public broadcasting is currently well positioned to provide local and state news coverage. How and whether to build on the progress that public broadcasting has made are the options confronting both policymakers and American taxpayers in the years ahead. But it’s doing the best that it can.” 193 public media, says public broadcasting is “making a difference.” But, “Can public broadcasting fill the void left by the shrinking or the disappearance of newspapers? The answer is no, it can’t. Julie Drizin, executive director of Current, 192 a nonprofit news service covering U.S. “Public media stations are locally controlled and operated, so they are in the best position to address growing news deserts,” Kathy Merritt, senior vice president of journalism and radio at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), told the PBS public editor in a March 2020 interview. One alternative could be public broadcasting, with its proven record in the news business through mainstays like National Public Radio (NPR), American Public Media (APM) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The intentionally blank front pages raised a key question: What would replace local newspapers if they went away? 190 It was an effort by the Minnesota Newspaper Association to highlight newspapers’ vital role in building an informed citizenry, especially in an era when so many publications are cutting staff or going out of business entirely. In August 2017, readers of more than 200 newspapers in Minnesota and North Dakota found themselves looking at blank front pages: no print, no photographs. For more than 50 years, the nation’s network of 1,300 taxpayer-funded television and radio stations has entertained, educated and informed Americans with programs ranging from “Masterpiece Theatre” and “Sesame Street” to the PBS “NewsHour” and NPR’s “Morning Edition.” Using information and data compiled by UNC researchers, Bill Arthur, former Washington correspondent at Knight Ridder and editor for Bloomberg News, explores the potential for public broadcasting to step in and provide news coverage for residents living in a news desert.