As its critics continue to celebrate its downfall, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve the nonprofit organization that distributed federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country for almost 60 years.
The Board of Director’s made the difficult choice on Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell. For years, Republicans have wanted to defund Public Broadcasting since the Nixon era. President Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon disliked Public Broadcasting, which included PBS. He sought to cut its funding in September 1971. Nixon even expressed the possibility of controlling Public Broadcasting, according to the New York Times Archives and files of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy for 1969 to 1974. Decades later in June 2025, Congress approved Trump’s rescission package, which cut $1.1 billion in funding for CPB over the next two years that had previously been approved. The CPB announcement also followed the release of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill, which excludes funding for CPB for the first time in more than five decades. After the vote, Trump, known for being vindictive and his cruelty took to Truth Social to continue his attack on PBS and NPR, saying “For decades, Republicans have promised to cut NPR, but have never done it, until now. NPR and PBS are a Radical Left Disaster, and 1000% against the Republican Party!” For years, Trump has tried to gaslight the nation by claiming that mainstream media is bias and that it is the “Enemy of the People.”
“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.”
Patricia Harrison, CPB’s President and CEO
RELATED: The Trump Administration Stops Grants Used For PBS Kids’ Education and Animation
According to USA TODAY, CPB said that 70% of its federal funding went to locally owned public media stations, reaching roughly 99% of Americans. PBS advocates previously told USA TODAY the budget cuts would disproportionately affect rural areas, potentially worsening existing news and information deserts. It is unclear at this time just how many programs may be impacted. Ruby Calvert, head of CPB’s board of directors, said the federal defunding of public media has been devastating.
“Even at 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.”
Ruby Calvert, Head of CPB’s Board of Directors
AD: Available now on DVD: The American Revolution: A Film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein & David Schmidt
First authorized by Congress under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, CPB helped build and sustain a nationwide public media system of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public radio and television stations. Through CPB’s stewardship, public media became a trusted civic resource—delivering educational programming like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street that helped generations of children learn and grow, providing lifesaving emergency alerts during natural disasters and crises, and supporting rigorous, fact-based journalism that uncovers issues impacting people’s daily lives, connects neighbors to one another, and strengthens civic participation.
CPB said it was financially supporting the American Archive of Public Broadcasting in its effort to preserve historic content, and is working with the University of Maryland to maintain its own records. For more on this story, check out Public Notice’s article on the shutdown by Liz Dye.
Source: Press Release, USA TODAY, ABC NEWS
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Whatever purchase through the affiliate links helps the site.
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, news tips, or questions, email them to: webmaster@bigrednerd.com.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Whatever purchase through the affiliate links helps the site.
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, news tips, or questions, email them to: webmaster@bigrednerd.com.
Red's Nerd Den 