Defunded, but Not Defeated - Wallace House Center for Journalists

Peggy Lowe is an investigative reporter based at KCUR in Kansas City.

My time in the Knight-Wallace Fellowship, as it was designed to do, helped me write my second act. After years at a wire service and newspapers in Colorado and California, I decided during my 2008-2009 academic year at the University of Michigan to return to the Midwest, where I grew up, and move into public media. I wanted to trade the downward, depressing slide of newspapers for the hope and growth I saw at NPR and its emerging collaborations.

I landed at Harvest Public Media, which was then just six Midwest stations based at KCUR in Kansas City and among the first regional collaborations launched with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). I helped build a startup focused on covering the changing world of food production, energy and climate change, health determinants and rural life.

What I didn’t anticipate was that my new job would land me at ground zero on the map of media deserts — those vast spaces where fewer and fewer communities were being covered with daily news. I was proud as hell that public media had stepped up while traditional print media was running away. Public media committed to creating new models to fill the geographic gaps, hiring more reporters and covering the middle of the country for national audiences.

I remain committed to the goals I created as a Knight-Wallace Fellow — most importantly, doing investigative reporting on local issues with a focus on social justice.

Harvest has become a mighty force, now fueled by the connection of 23 stations, serving as a model for other reporting collaborations, such as the Kansas News Service and NPR’s Midwest Newsroom, both of which are based at KCUR.

But since the defunding of CPB, all of this reporting from the middle of America is in jeopardy. And that’s a shame. A listener who recently started donating to KCUR urged others to join him, saying our reporters showed up when other outlets failed to, and that the depth and accuracy of the reporting is “unmatched.”

“I get to hear interviews not just from local public officials I like, but also a lot who I disagree with, and always with fair but challenging questions,” the new donor wrote. “We need a lot more of that in society.”

While KCUR will be fine, thanks mostly to our generous hometown, many smaller stations that relied on the federal funding will close, diluting these well-built collaborations and drying up this much-needed coverage from reporting deserts.

In spite of the crisis, I know public media will remain a force. Funders are coming forward, new business models are being built, and in the meantime, we continue to cover our communities with gusto. I remain committed to the goals I created as a Knight-Wallace Fellow — most importantly, doing investigative reporting on local issues with a focus on social justice. And I choose to believe what has become a mantra at KCUR: “Defunded, but not defeated.”

This article is part of Rising to Meet the Moment, a series from the Fall 2025 issue of the Wallace House Journal, featuring reflections from Knight-Wallace alumni, Wallace House board members and the Livingston Awards community on meeting today’s challenges with focus, resilience and resolve. Read more stories from our series:

Christopher Baxter, “Unexpected hope“

Lynette Clemetson, “Stepping up with focus and resolve“

Hayes Ferguson, “Nurturing innovation, adaptability and purpose“

Stephen Henderson, “Choosing civility“

Samantha Henry, “The future of our profession: student journalism“

Tracy Jan, “News deserts and fewer watchdogs“

Margaret Low, “Game Over? Not a chance“

Peggy Lowe, “Defunded, but not defeated“

Amy Maestas, “Building trust through community collaborations“

Kunal Majumder, “Defending the right to report“

Seema Mehta, “Why we keep reporting“

Rachel Rohr, “Swift action for the hardest hit“