Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shut Down After 58 Years
Due to Trump Eliminating Funding
---------------------------------------------------------------
Less than a year after the Trump administration and Congress voted
to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity -
which helped fund the operations of local public TV and radio
stations - has voted to shut down. The CPB announced Monday that
its board of directors voted to close the organization after
58 years, rather than continue to exist and potentially be
"vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse."

The CPB was created by Congress by the Public Broadcasting Act of
1967 to support the federal government's investment in public
broadcasting. The org noted that the rescission of all of CPB's
federal funding came after years of political attacks.

"For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all
Americans - regardless of geography, income, or background - had
access to trusted news, educational programming, and local
storytelling," said CPB president/CEO Patricia Harrison. "When the
Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board
faced a profound responsibility: CPB's final act would be to
protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic
values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to
remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.

CPB Board of Directors chair Ruby Calvert called the move - and what
has happened to public media - "devastating."

"After nearly six decades of innovative, educational public
television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for
CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or
support the public media system that depends on it," Calvert said.
"Yet, even in this moment, I am convinced that public media will
survive, and that a new Congress will address public media's role in
our country because it is critical to our children's education, our
history, culture and democracy to do so."

The news doesn't come as a surprise after the Republican Congress in
July approved Trump's rescission package, eliminating $1.1 billion in
crucial funding for public broadcasting that had been approved for
the next two years. Without that money, the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting was set to shut down. And the fate of hundreds of TV and
radio stations remains up in the air.

The funding was used to support both public radio and public
television stations, directing over 70 percent of CPB's appropriation
straight to local stations. The funds also supported independent
filmmakers. Without the funds, PBS has been scrambling to support and
protect some of its most vulnerable member stations. Some stations
have announced plans to shut down; Arkansas' PBS stations
disaffiliated with the service and went independent to save money.

"CPB's support extends to every corner of the country - urban, rural,
tribal, and everywhere in between," the org noted." In many
communities, public media stations are the only free source of
trusted news, educational children's programming, and local and
national cultural content."

The CPB said that without funding, its board determined that
"maintaining the corporation as a nonfunctional entity would not
serve the public interest or advance the goals of public media.
A dormant and defunded CPB could have become vulnerable to future
political manipulation or misuse, threatening the independence of
public media and the trust audiences place in it, and potentially
subjecting staff and board members to legal exposure from bad-faith
actors."

As it closes, CPB is distributing its remaining funds, and also
supporting the American Archive of Public Broadcasting in digitizing
and preserving historic content. The CPB's own archives will be
preserved at the University of Maryland, which will make it accessible
to the public.

In September, the?Television Academy honoured CPB with its Governors
Award, presenting it to Harrison\, who had led the organisation since
2005, at the Creative Arts ceremony.

"Public media remains essential to a healthy democracy," Harrison
added. "Our hope is that future leaders and generations will recognize
its value, defend its independence, and continue the work of ensuring
that trustworthy, educational, and community-centered media remains
accessible to all Americans."



<https://au.variety.com/2026/tv/news/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-shuts-down-trump-31609/>






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