The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday it was shutting down its operations after President Donald Trump rescinded funding for the nonprofit, which it used to support public radio and TV stations around the country.
The CPB — which was established by Congress decades ago as an independent nonprofit — said it will begin “an orderly wind-down” after Trump signed a measure last month to claw back $1.1 billion in grants appropriated to CPB over the next two fiscal years.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee also approved an appropriations bill on Thursday that would zero out funding for the organization going forward, which CPB said has not happened before in five decades.
“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 Patricia Harrison said in a statement.
The elimination of CPB marks a victory for Trump, who has held a long-standing grudge against NPR and PBS over their coverage of him and other Republicans. Last month, Congress approved a request from the Trump administration to rescind funding for the organization, which it distributes as grants to public media stations around the country.
Without federal funding, dozens of small public media stations — particularly in rural areas — are at risk of shutting down. A CPB analysis found that nearly half the rural stations it supported relied on federal funding for at least 25 percent or more of their total budget.
CBP, which was formed in 1967, said the majority of its employees will lose their jobs when the fiscal year ends in September. A small team of employees will stay on through January to finish shutting down its operations.
In addition to providing funding, CPB also provides several key services for local public media stations, including securing music rights for local broadcasters. Without CPB, local stations would be forced to incur the costs of securing those rights — an additional expense for stations that may already be short on funding without federal support.
Representatives for NPR and PBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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