The reduction in media funding in the States will hit the Democrats. And here's why

The United States will reduce spending on humanitarian aid to other countries and press support. Republicans called foreign programs wasteful, and the state-supported media was accused of bias and promoting left-liberal views. They are not far from the truth here: the Democrats are really actively using the media and media personalities to promote their agenda. What is happening to American liberal publications and TV channels now and how the congressional decision will affect the US Democratic Party is in the Izvestia article.

Congressional decision

• The U.S. House of Representatives supported a bill approved in the Senate at the end of July that reduces spending by $9.4 billion. Budget savings will amount to 0.13% of the US federal budget. These are the remaining funds for the USAID agency and related organizations that have promoted the liberal agenda abroad, as well as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding for the national public radio NPR and the public broadcasting service PBS, through which local radio and television companies exist. NRP and PBS have already posted announcements on their websites about collecting donations to continue their work.

• Republicans called foreign programs wasteful, and the state-supported media was accused of bias and the promotion of left-liberal views. Earlier, the administration of US President Donald Trump had already blocked funds in the budget for financing USAID and the press in the amount of more than $425 billion. After the bill was supported in parliament, the White House announced the possible appearance of new requests for spending cuts.

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The attack on the press

• Trump's rise to power has become a problem for most media outlets that broadcast a liberal agenda and received government support. During the presidential election campaign, the press supported Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Returning to the Oval Office, Trump began to pursue a line on reducing government funding for the media, which many publications, according to the president, used against his administration.

• CBS News suffered the greatest losses when it was convicted of editing Harris' pre-election interview on the 60 Minutes program. Donald Trump sued the channel for election interference, but the channel's owner, Paramount, entered into an agreement promising to pay $16 million. CBS was forced to cut studios to cut costs, and the channel's ratings began to plummet — by mid-July, its audience had dropped by a third.

• On July 18, CBS announced the closure of the "Tonight Show with Stephen Colbert", which had been on the air since 2015: the channel called it a financial decision. The Screenwriters Guild of America has demanded an investigation into the incident for "potential violations." The show's closure came three days after Colbert criticized Paramount's deal with Trump. The presenter was also known for his fierce criticism of the current US president.

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• Another victim of Trump was MSNBC, which also opposed the US president's policies. In his lawsuit, Trump accused the organization of interfering in the election. The owner of the TV channel, Comcast, put MSNBC up for sale. The funding cuts that the NRP and PBS broadcasters will face as a result of the congressional decision will be another blow to the liberal media system, but it is difficult to predict whether it will have a lasting effect.

The reaction of the Democrats

• The closure of international agencies and the termination of press funding from the budget will make it difficult for Democrats to promote their position in the media. The US Democratic Party has already threatened to make it difficult for Congress to pass bills on budget financing. The agreement of a simple majority in the two chambers of Congress is enough to reduce costs, but Republicans will need the support of Democrats to overcome the necessary threshold of 60 votes to decide on an increase in funding.

• The Democrats, who have not won a majority in Congress, are using every opportunity to destroy public support for Republican Trump — according to You Gov, by mid-July his rating had dropped to 41%. Discontent is growing in connection with the consequences of the flooding in Texas and rumors about the mention of the US president's name on the "Epstein list." Trump was indeed familiar with the scandalous financier, but during the reign of the former president, Democrat Joe Biden, as well as during the two election campaigns with Trump's participation, not a single document was made public that would confirm the connection of the head of state with Epstein's crimes.

• Democrats also accused the Trump administration of firing meteorologists and the consequences of flooding in Texas, but these statements do not help the US Democratic Party improve its rating in any way. According to the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, by mid-July, the approval level of Democrats continued to fall and reached 40%, while 48% of respondents approve of the Republicans' activities.

During the preparation of the Izvestia material, we talked and took into account the opinions of:

• political scientist Vladimir Shapovalov;
• American political scientist Malek Dudakov;
• American political scientist and journalist Garland Nixon.