The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that it will shut down completely, blaming Congress after it pulled federal funding from the organization. According to a press release on the matter, CPB’s Board of Directors voted to dissolve the entity.
“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 President and CEO of CPB Patricia Harrison. “When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic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.”
In August, CPB announced that it would be slowing down its operations.
In May, President Trump called for the end of taxpayer subsidization of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which received funding through the CPB. “Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,” Trump’s order read. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
According to the order, the CPB failed to abide by the principle of impartiality through NPR and PBS. “Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the order noted. “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
