The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that its board of directors has officially voted to dissolve the organization, marking the end of its 58-year role as the federally approved steward of public broadcasting.
The Public Broadcasting Corporation called its dissolution is “an act of responsible management aimed at protecting the future of public media,” emphasizing that it was the board’s last effort to defend the system for which it was created. “When the Administration and Congress canceled federal funding,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO, “our board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and democratic values by dissolving it, rather than allowing the organization to remain unfunded and vulnerable to further attacks. »
The organization further asserted that “a dormant and unfunded CPB could have become vulnerable to future political manipulation or abuse, threatening the independence of public media and the public’s trust in it, and potentially exposing staff and board members to legal action from bad faith actors.”
According to the CPB, the decision to close came after Congress finished all remaining federal funding and passed a $9 billion rescission package by mid-2025, which included $1.1 billion in cuts to the CPB. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson rented legislation at the time to eliminate “wasteful spending” and to defund what he described as “politically biased media outlets like NPR and PBS.” These legislative measures came after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in May 2025. declaring“No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies,” saying Americans deserve “fair, accurate, nonpartisan coverage” if their tax dollars pay for it.
Despite litigation involving a $36 million contract with National Public Radio (NPR), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting faced deeper funding cuts that ultimately made its operations unviable. NPR sued CPB after the organization suspended the contract, alleging political interference. The CPB initially claimed that the decision was motivated by a transition to digital innovation, but during the proceedings the judge told the CPB legal team that he did not find this argument credible. The case was settled in November 2025, with CPB agreeing to execute the contract.
CPB President Ruby Calvert appears to attribute the organization’s collapse directly to the actions of the current Republican majority in Congress. “After nearly six decades of innovative and educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it. Yet even now, I am confident that public media will survive and that a new Congress will address the role of public media in our country as it is essential to the education of our children, our history, our culture, and democracy.”
Despite the closure, the leaders of the CPB reaffirmed that the mission of public media would continue through local stations and partners. “Public media remains essential to a healthy democracy,” Harrison said. “Our hope is that leaders and future generations will recognize its value, defend its independence, and continue the work to ensure that trustworthy, educational, and community-centered media remains accessible to all Americans.” »
