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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the conduit for federal funds to NPR and PBS, announced on Friday that it is beginning to wind down its operations, given President Trump has signed a law clawing back $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting through fiscal year 2027.
The announcement follows a largely party-line vote last month that approved the cuts to public broadcasting as part of a $9 billion rescissions package requested by the White House that also included cuts to foreign aid. While public media officials had held a glimmer of hope that lawmakers would restore some of the money for the following budget year, the Senate Appropriations Committee declined to do that on Thursday.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
“Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said.
CPB informed employees that the majority of staff positions will be eliminated with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025. It said a small team would remain until January to “focus on compliance, fiscal distributions, and resolution of long-term financial obligations including ensuring continuity for music rights and royalties that remain essential to the public media system,” according to the CPB statement.
Harrison noted that it was the first time in nearly 60 years that Congress had refused to fund CPB. The private nonprofit corporation was set up to channel federal money to public media stations nationwide, both for programming and emergency alert systems. Shock and sadness reverberated through the public media system Friday. “I didn’t really see a day where this separate institution, which is set up to serve the public, would be shut down,” said Tim Bruno, general manager of Radio Catskill, an NPR affiliate in upstate New York. “I don’t know what stage of grief I’m in right now.”Earlier this summer, some stations began laying off staff in anticipation of federal funding cuts. On Wednesday, WQED — which runs a TV station and classical radio station in Pittsburgh — announced plans to lay off 35% of its staff.
Other operations, including Nashville Public Media, Louisville Public Media, and KUOW in Seattle, say they are seeing a big surge in donations in response to the cuts.
Trump and his allies in Congress have argued that public media — especially NPR — is unfair to conservatives and a waste of taxpayer money. Both NPR and PBS have denied bias.
NPR, which produces news programs such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, relies on direct federal funds for only a small portion of its budget. But its approximately 1,000 member stations receive a heftier portion of their operating revenue through CPB. Those in rural and poor areas, in particular, rely on CPB grants. With its nightly PBS News Hour and children’s programming, such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, PBS gets around 15% of its revenue from federal money, as do its member stations on average.
“The ripple effects of this closure will be felt across every public media organization and, more importantly, in every community across the country that relies on public broadcasting,” NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement.
She said NPR would respond by “stepping up to support locally owned, nonprofit public radio stations and local journalism across the country, working to maintain public media’s promise of universal service, and upholding the highest standards for independent journalism and cultural programming in service of our nation.” The network has pledged to take $8 million from its budget to help local stations in crisis.
While Republicans in Washington have accused public media of bias, most Americans still support public broadcasting. A Harris Poll last month found that 66% of Americans support federal funding for public radio, with the same share calling it a good value. Support included 58% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats. The online poll surveyed 2,089 U.S. adults with a 2.5 percentage point margin of error.
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Corporation for Public Broadcasting President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison, shown here in 2017, announced on Friday that CPB would wind down operations by Sept. 30 after losing all federal funding. Zach Gibson/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
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