As a part of his 2025-2026 finances proposal, Mayor Bruce Harrell desires to chop $1.6 million a yr in funding to the Seattle Channel, a beloved municipal tv station that broadcasts metropolis council conferences, press conferences, and unique programming on cable and on-line. The mayor’s plan would lay off six full-time workers, drop 4 contract staff, and cancel all unique programming, together with Artwork Zone with Nancy Guppy, E-book Lust with Nancy Pearl, and Metropolis Inside/Out, a long-running present through which seven-time Emmy Award successful journalist Brian Callanan covers native information, conducts longform interviews with elected officers, and hosts debates on probably the most urgent points in Metropolis Corridor or on the poll. The Seattle Channel didn’t reply to my request for remark.
The Mayor’s Workplace mentioned, “We’re grateful for the work of Seattle Channel workers and the programming they’ve produced and proceed to supply. We acknowledge this was a tough determination, however given steadily declining franchise payment revenues, it was a vital determination to scale back programming.”
Callanan informed The Stranger he’s “actually fearful and actually scared.”
“That is my job,” he mentioned. “That is how I pay a mortgage and assist my household.”
However he’s much more involved about what the cuts imply for the Seattle neighborhood as a complete. “This could be an enormous loss by way of the necessary objective of making an attempt to supply transparency for our native elected leaders, and making an attempt to assist individuals perceive the problems on their poll. I do not wish to lose that.”
Guppy, a longtime Seattle journalist who has hosted Artwork Zone since 2008, mentioned she was “shocked” by the information of the Mayor’s cuts. Her program shines a much-deserved gentle on native artists who “labor in obscurity.”
“Artwork Zone is a continuing little Valentine not solely to artists or to venues, however to the entire Metropolis,” Guppy mentioned.
Contractors corresponding to Callanan and Guppy have been suggested not to discuss the cuts at Metropolis Corridor. Callanan additionally personally feels uncomfortable advocating for the Metropolis to finances in his curiosity.
“I’m in a very tough place right here,” Callanan mentioned. “I’ve tried all through my profession to be neutral and never an advocate for any sure political coverage. However that is completely different for me. I really feel like I’ve to advocate if I imagine within the unique impetus of offering truthful, balanced, good info to the general public that sheds some transparency on the general public officers. We won’t lose one thing like this. If it’s lower, it isn’t coming again.”
Guppy mentioned she is going to proceed to unfold phrase of the cuts to her community who can advocate on her behalf. The positivity she’s already seen on social media provides her hope.
“No different authorities channel on this nation is even near what Seattle Channel does. It simply does not exist,” Guppy mentioned. “I am so fortunate to be doing this present and hopefully we’ll have the ability to hold doing it in some capability.”
It appears to be like just like the Seattle Channel already has a small military behind it. Advocates for the press, authorities transparency, and the unique packages basically say the town council higher hold their fingers off the Seattle Channel and discover the cash elsewhere.
Journalist Solidarity
Essex Porter, a retired KIRO 7 political reporter and big within the native media scene, informed The Stranger that he’s “shocked” that the mayor would contemplate chopping unique packages on the Seattle Channel, significantly Metropolis Inside/Out.
“This system is absolutely a part of connective tissue that retains Seattle collectively,” says Porter. “I actually suppose that Seattle would really, really miss it. And I believe it will be an ideal loss.”
Porter appeared on Metropolis Inside/Out many occasions all through his profession to recap the information.
Porter praised Callanan, who has hosted the present for 13 years, and Susan Han, the eight-time Emmy Award successful journalist who has produced it for 17 years.
“Being on the present, I hoped I may share some data, however I all the time ended up studying one thing that I did not know or hadn’t seen in a specific gentle,” says Porter. “The Seattle Channel enlightened me, and, I am positive, all the time enlightened the viewers.”
The Society of Skilled Journalism Western Washington echoed Porter’s factors.
“Programming on the Seattle Channel, like Metropolis Inside/Out, is a priceless supply of data and reporting for Seattle residents, and shedding it will be a loss for journalism and a loss for protecting residents well-informed. Transparency in authorities is tough to attain. This solely makes it tougher.”
For Transparency’s Sake
The lower appears to suit right into a higher sample of the Metropolis’s disregard for public entry, the place Seattle elected officers appear extra eager to disregard press inquiries, decline interviews, sow mistrust with the general public, and stifle dissent.
George Erb, the secretary of the Washington Coalition for Open Authorities, mentioned the Metropolis of Seattle boasts a “dismal document” in relation to authorities transparency. For instance, the town council and Mayor Jenny Durkan appeared to violate the Open Public Conferences Act (OPMA) after they secretly plotted to repeal the top tax in 2018. Metropolis Legal professional Pete Holmes settled a lawsuit in opposition to the Metropolis for $4,001, paying in full the civil charges related to breaking the OPMA however by no means admitting guilt. Extra just lately, Seattle got here beneath hearth for Durkan deleting 10 months of texts across the 2020 Black Lives Matter motion.
Erb informed The Stranger he’s glad the Mayor’s proposal wouldn’t finish the printed of public conferences or press conferences. Nevertheless, with six workers up for layoffs, Seattle Channel insiders fear the Mayor might overestimate that station’s capacity to maintain up with present demand after shedding individuals answerable for the programming he intends to take care of.
The finances doc implies the Metropolis will handle the loss in capability by “minimiz[ing] overlapping protection.”
However even when Harrell’s hack-job solely kills unique programming, Erb mentioned that lower would represent an enormous loss to transparency.
Erb mentioned that municipal TV stations such because the Seattle Channel have an more and more necessary function within the media panorama as privately owned newsrooms shutter throughout the nation. Between 2005 and 2023, nearly 3,000 newspapers stopped manufacturing in america, based on the State of Native Information Undertaking. There’s solely about 6,000 newspapers left in your complete nation as of 2023. Erb mentioned that the Metropolis of Seattle should deal with the Seattle Channel and Metropolis Inside/Out as a “precedence, not an possibility.”
When public officers “conceal out” from the general public, Erb says it “distorts the civic dialog.” If the general public has higher, extra full info, Erb says they will extra successfully contribute to a coverage dialogue.
Former Council Member Andrew Lewis appears to agree.
Lewis bets he appeared on Metropolis Inside/Out greater than anybody else amongst his council cohort. He tells The Stranger he appreciated that the present gave him a possibility to dive into points at size to tell his constituents maybe extra deeply than they may get in a day by day information story. Lewis mentioned council members ought to see nice utility in Metropolis Inside/Out and struggle to maintain it.
“Presumably, for those who’re a council member and you are taking that function significantly, you’ve significantly studied and discovered extensively a couple of given problem from peer-reviewed analysis and varied constituencies,” says Lewis. “And there ought to be a discussion board just like the Seattle Channel the place you current what knowledgeable your place on that problem. I believe that in case you are rendered uncomfortable by that obligation, possibly this is not the correct line of give you the results you want.”
An Unlikely Hero
And the town council nonetheless has loads of time to save lots of this system. Funds Chair Dan Strauss may undo Harrell’s assault on the Seattle Channel in his finances package deal, which he’ll unveil on October 30. And naturally, any council member may suggest an modification to that package deal to revive funding.
Council President Sara Nelson tweeted in regards to the problem Thursday morning, distancing herself from the mayor’s assault on Seattle Channel.
“Let me be clear: Council simply acquired the MAYOR’s proposed finances on Tuesday,” Nelson tweeted from her official account. “As somebody with a tagline of ‘I watch the Seattle Channel for enjoyable,’ you possibly can anticipate I’ll be wanting into proposed cuts to @SeattleChannel.”
Seattle Channel followers unite https://t.co/PuJYN1NpDm
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) September 26, 2024
Strauss made related noises about “wanting into” saving the Seattle Channel. In a cellphone name with The Stranger, Strauss says he personally actually likes the programming on the Seattle Channel —“When you don’t know who Nancy Guppy is, you’re not an actual Seattleite,” he mentioned.
However Strauss acknowledged the respectable loss in income that led to the lower.
Harrell’s workplace pointed to a decline in income from franchise charges levied on cable firms as individuals finish their subscriptions within the swap to streaming platforms. The cable franchise charges introduced in $9.2 million at its peak in 2017. That’s about $11.9 million based mostly on the worth of the greenback in 2024. The income dipped in 2018 when the charges solely generated about $7.7 million, the equal of $9.8 million in 2024. The downward trajectory continued steadily, save one distinctive yr in 2021. However solely now, when the Metropolis tasks $5 million in income from the cable franchise payment in 2025, did the Metropolis threaten unique content material.
Regardless, Seattle Channel supporters argue the Metropolis can discover the cash elsewhere to fund the unique content material.
The Mayor’s Officer says, “Ought to the income forecast enhance or different funding options current itself, we might be supportive of restoring this extra programming. Work will proceed to discover income ideas and partnerships to revive some companies from the Seattle Channel that will be decreased or eradicated.”
Harrell’s assist after attacking this system type of falls flat. Certain, the mayor had a large deficit to cope with within the 2025-2026 finances, however he may discover $100 million from new spending on his priorities, together with $62 million to the Seattle Police Division. Harrell can’t excuse comparatively small cuts to long-standing, public establishments such because the Seattle Channel by pointing to declining income or a deficit. That is an intentional coverage alternative, and the town council must right it.
Strauss wouldn’t promise he would discover cash elsewhere or increase new income, however actually, $1.6 million per yr represents 0.084 % of the whole $1.9 billion basic fund—it’s a drop within the bucket.
