2025 Is Now Public Media’s Biggest Year for Lobbying Spending Ever
Also, meet public media's hired lobbyists.
Back in August, I published an article for public media trade publication Current about the industry’s lobbying spending since President Trump’s election. At the time, I found that public media had broken its own record for quarterly spending in three out of the last four quarters, and that 2025 had already become the 11th highest spending year ever after only 6 months. Those records were buoyed by the threat of losing federal funding from Fall 2024 to Summer 2025, and became reality on July 18th, the beginning of Q3 2025.
Despite the shutdown, Q3’s lobbying disclosures are now in and it’s official: Public media has already spent a record amount of money on lobbying in 2025. Not only that, but spending in the last quarter remained at historic highs, with Q3 becoming the second highest for spending ever behind Q2 of 2025.
We can’t know exactly how public media’s lobbyists spent their time, but public disclosures show that the industry was focused on a variety of issues last quarter and not just The Rescissions Act of 2025. Disclosures also show that the industry’s hired Congressional emissaries, totaling almost two dozen, represented a varied and bi-partisan response to public media’s gravest threat.
A Record Year, 9 Months In
In 2008, the Bush Administration sought to rescind $200 million in appropriations for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as end the corporation’s two-year appropriations cycle. While this isn’t the only year an administration had proposed reductions to public media’s federal funding, it nevertheless stood as a record year for lobbying spending by the industry: $2.6 million. That is, until 2025.
This year, public media has spent $2.8 million, setting spending records in the last four out of five quarters.
As I noted in my article for Current, advocacy group America’s Public Television Stations, or APTS, is far and away the industry’s biggest spender, accounting for nearly 50% of lobbying expenses ($1.37 million) in 2025. In fact, APTS (as well as APTS Action, Inc.) increased their spending in Q3 by $10k, even while NPR (32% of the industry’s yearly spending, or $890k) and PBS (20% of the industry’s yearly spending, or $550k) pulled back.
When looking at the described lobbying activities, it shouldn’t be a surprise that public media’s biggest names were mostly focused on the impending rescission. In fact, ten out of the twelve lobbying disclosures that provided lobbying activity descriptions identified either funding or appropriations as a key issue.
NPR and APTS were also focused on the Next Generation Warning System, a three-year-old FEMA program that had, in part, been administered by CPB. Stations receiving NGWS grants suffered two major blows in 2025: First, when CPB was temporarily halted from distributing the funds; and second, when CPB relinquished administration of the program following the loss of their federal appropriations.
Meet the Lobbyists
Only four public media entities - NPR, PBS, APTS, and Connecticut Public Broadcasting, spent more than $5,000 total on lobbying in Q3 2025 and were therefore required to disclose the names of the lobbyists they hired.
Out of the 24 total lobbyists hired by public media companies, nearly all had prior legislative experience. And at least 14 had worked directly for a Republican politician in the past, nearly 60%:
NPR:
Yardly Pollas-Kimble (Venable LLP)
Notable work history: U.S. Congressman Bobby L. Rush (D-GA), House Democratic Leadership’s Policy and Steering Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Nicholas Choate (Venable LLP)
Notable work history: U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO).
Joshua Finestone (Venable LLP)
Notable work history: Senator Dean Heller (R-NV), U.S. Representative Tom Graves (R-GA), U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI).
Phil Anderson (Navigators Global LLC)
Notable work history: Special Assistant to Vice President Dan Quayle, Deputy Assistant to RNC Chairman Lee Atwater.
Ryan Berger (Navigators Global LLC)
Notable work history: Policy Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Presidential Trump Transition team member, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), Senator Jeff Chiesa (R-NJ).
Sarah Rogers (Navigators Global LLC)
Notable work history: Representative Patrick Meehan (R-PA), Representative Michael Conaway (R-TX), Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA), Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA)
PBS:
Brian Ballard (Ballard Partners)
Notable work history: Gubernatorial inauguration co-chair for Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, and Charlie Crist; Florida Finance Committee chair for John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Donald Trump; RNC Finance Vice Chair.
Jordan Elsbury (Ballard Partners)
Notable work history: Regional Political Director of The Republican party of Louisiana.
Patrick Kilcur (Ballard Partners)
Notable work history: Motion Picture Association.
APTS
Jordan Mills (Williams and Jensen, PLLC)
Notable work history: Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
Susan Hirschmann (Williams and Jensen, PLLC)
Notable work history: Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX), Representative Van Hilleary (R-TN).
Christopher Brinson (Williams and Jensen, PLLC)
Notable work history: Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Representative Marge Roukema (R-NJ).
Laura Simmons (Williams and Jensen, PLLC)
Notable work history: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Legislative Affairs.
Jennifer LaTourette (Van Scoyoc Associates)
Notable work history: Representative Steve LaTourette (R-OH), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Representative Robert Borski (D-PA).
Matt Henken (Van Scoyoc Associates)
Notable work history: Representative Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Representative Mark Udall (D-CO).
Danica Petroshius (Penn Hill Group)
Notable work history: Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), U.S. Department of Education.
Amanda Schaumburg (Penn Hill Group)
Notable work history: Representative Mark Green (R-WI), Governor Tommy Thompson (R-WI), Governor Scott McCallum (R-WI).
Alexander Nock (Penn Hill Group)
Notable work history: Representative Matthew Martinez (D-CA), Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
Elyse Wasch (Pen Hill Group)
Notable work history: Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA).
Connecticut Public Broadcasting
Matt Trant (National Group, LLP)
Notable work history: Massachusetts Port Authority, Representative Silvio Conte (R-MA), U.S. Department of Transportation
Vincent Versage (National Group, LLP)
Notable work history: Senator Spark Matsunaga (D-HI), Representative Timothy Wirth (D-CO), Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI).
Valerie Osborn (National Group, LLP)
Notable work history: Representative Frank Riggs (R-CA), Representative Peter Torkildsen (R-MA).
Jeffrey Lawrence (National Group, LLP)
Notable work history: NASA, Representative Bill Green (R-NY).
What Now?
According to opensecrets.org, if lobbying spending by other television and radio broadcast groups stayed the same as 2024, APTS would have already become the 4th-highest spending group for lobbying, while NPR would have jumped up to become the 6th-highest spending group. If spending by NPR in Q4 continues at the same rate, the radio network would jump up one more spot to number 5, right behind APTS.
It’s hard to imagine, however, that the trend will continue: Democrats aren’t focused on restoring public media’s appropriations in order to reopen the government and President Trump’s executive order limiting federal funds for NPR and PBS is still in effect. Only one encouraging federal action - the disbursement of funds from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to tribal stations - has occurred since July 18th.
Maybe public media companies will continue to spend on lobbying in the hopes that bluer skies lie ahead in 2 or 4 years.
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