The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced Friday that it will begin shutting down, weeks after Congress canceled previously approved funding for the nation’s steward of public media access.
The CPB said in a statement that it will begin an “orderly wind-down” of its operations after nearly 60 years with the support of the federal government.
It said that most staff positions will conclude with the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small team of employees will remain through January 2026, it added. It did not specify how many people in total were being laid off.
“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,” the corporation’s president and CEO, Patricia Harrison, said in a statement. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
The announcement comes less than a month after Congress passed a package of spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump that included stripping $1.1 billion in funding for the CPB.
Currently, the CPB helps support more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.
Despite objections from some Republican lawmakers whose districts include rural areas that rely on the local outlets, the Trump administration has maintained that the organization should be stripped of funding.
The administration has repeatedly accused NPR and PBS of liberal bias, which the organizations have repeatedly denied.
“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.
Despite the cuts to the CPB, some of the most revered national PBS and NPR programs are expected to remain on the air thanks to other sources of funding.
PBS and NPR did not immediately return requests for comment.
Shortly after Congress passed the cuts, NPR called the move an “irreversible loss.”
“If a station doesn’t survive this sudden turn by Congress, a vital stitch in our American fabric will be gone for good,” it said.
Days later, NPR announced that its editor-in-chief and senior vice president, Edith Chapin, had stepped down.
In the days after the cuts were finalized, “PBS Newshour” posted a statement on X saying the program “is not going anywhere.”
“We will continue our work without fear or favor, as we have for nearly five decades on the air,” it said.
Steve Kopack contributed.
