You know the drill.

Even public radio and television stations, facing a threatened loss of federal funding, are using the airwaves to repeatedly warn of what programming might disappear unless listeners and viewers contact members of Congress and plead their case.

“We urge you to call your representative and voice your concern,” said a spot aired Tuesday on WETA in Washington.

All around the country, the news media are already awash in stories of the devastation that local, state and federal budget cuts will cause. And advocacy groups out to resist the cuts are flooding editors and reporters with news releases that outline in graphic terms how bad these cuts will be for those served by their organizations or causes.