We have a new report that describes half a decade of budget battles at the state level that have eroded funding for public broadcasters around the country. In the last year, governors and state legislatures have dramatically reduced public media budgets and even zeroed out all state funding for local stations.

According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, more than 95 percent of public TV stations and 77 percent of public radio stations receive some kind of support directly from a state government or indirectly from a state-funded college or university.

“News is just too important to leave to those who shout the loudest … or have the biggest purse.”

Caroline Thomson, chief operating officer of the BBC, made these remarks at this week’s Washington, D.C. forum on innovation in public media. “The Next Big Thing” featured a range of leaders from public and community media, plus demos and videos of new projects and debate about how we create and consume journalism in the digital age.

Other speakers included Jake Shapiro, the founding CEO of the Public Radio Exchange, Sue Schardt, the CEO of the Association of Independents in Radio, Joaquin Alvarado, head of innovation for American Public Media, and Craig Aaron, Free Press president and CEO.

For footage of Tuesday’s event click the links below:

On NPR’s Morning Edition this Wednesday, reporter Elizabeth Blair took a hard look at the ways in which advertisers are flooding our media and having more and more of a say in the content we see between the commercial breaks. New tools and technology have given consumers more options for skipping the ads that have quietly come to fill as much as 10 to 15 minutes of a half-hour program. With TiVo and online streaming, people can increasingly choose what commercials they see — or skip the ads altogether.

The federal appropriations for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are determined two years in advance to help insulate the CPB from congressional budget bickering. But now we are confronted with the odd paradox that one part of Congress — the Super Committee that grew out of the debt-ceiling debate — is likely debating cuts to public broadcasting even as a Senate subcommittee this week approved an increased budget for 2014.

Current.org reported this week that “If CPB survives 'til [2014], it would receive $445 million, the same as appropriated for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 but $6 million below President Obama's request.”