The Upside Down

“I don't know if there's anything in history that we've ever seen in civic life [like] what we're seeing. But I do know, like Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, we have to speak up…we have to be willing to put ourselves on the line. At the very least, I get to use my voice and put some things on the line.”
- Chris Hastings, president and chief executive officer of WXXI Public Media in Rochester, NY; former executive producer and editor-in-chief of GBH’s WORLD Channel in Boston

On June 12, 2025, the House narrowly voted (214-212) to cut nearly $1.1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR. This will significantly impact smaller stations serving rural communities nationwide. This bill now advances to the Senate.

In our second episode of Season 2, Grace Lee talks with WXXI’s Chris Hastings about recent staff layoffs and federal funding cuts roiling public media, preserving trusted information as a vital public resource, and what innovation looks like to him while navigating the ‘Upside Down’ present.