Public media is hastily bracing for a future without help from Washington.

In the wake of the Trump administration slashing more than $1.1 billion from public broadcasting, New York Public Radio has turned to private donors to fill the gap. The organization raised $1.7 million on Tuesday night at its Stand With Public Media gala, which honored “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert and his wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, for their ongoing fight for free speech. Colbert says he hopes this erosion of federal support won’t continue under future administrations.

“I have no idea whether it’ll continue into the future, and I hope it won’t,” Colbert told Variety inside the gala. “So many people value what public media can give them. In a lot of communities around the United States, public rad

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