PBS directed people to lobbying organization Protect My Public Media, where they could contact Congress members to fight the defunding. The goal was to make as much uplifting, positive noise as possible on social media, Schoch said.
The cuts to federal funding specifically impacted local stations in rural areas like Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, he said. PBS focused on telling stories from these areas to drive funding.
“We don’t have big paid media budgets so a lot of it was how do we make noise organically?” he said.
https://www.threads.com/@pbs/post/DWgtmsCgP-5/media?hl=en
The biggest challenge has been getting people to the right place to donate and removing misinformation, Schoch said. The campaign successfully got people interested in content, tripling social media views year over year in 2025, said Schoch. PBS has also built up its presence on Meta-owned Threads.
“We then suddenly saw this growth—we were able to get a lot more leeway, to take some risks in social to really establish a better voice,” he said.
