Corporation for Public Broadcasting shuts down after funding cuts

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit corporation established by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, will dissolve after a vote by its board of directors. Its funding was eliminated by congressional Republicans in party-line House and Senate votes after President Trump asked them to do so by executive order, ending 58 years of support for public broadcasting in the U.S. PBS and NPR stations remain, but without the federal support (and financing) provided by the corporation.

"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 Patricia Harrison, CPB's president and CEO.

Harrison added that when President Donald Trump signed into law last summer a measure to rescind funding by Congress, CPB's 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."

The shutdown was announced in August after congress passed the cuts, with staff laid off through the fall and only a small team remaining by January. It will distribute any remaining funds; 70% of its budget went to PBS and NPR, with rural stations most dependent on them.

Embedded below is Fred Rogers, testifying on May 1, 1969, before a Senate Committee to defend the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "Subcommittee chairman, Senator John Pastore (D-RI), unfamiliar with Fred Rogers, is initially abrasive toward him. Over the course of Rogers' 6 minutes of testimony, Pastore's demeanor gradually transitions to one of awe and admiration as Rogers speaks."