The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency funding NPR, PBS and hundreds of public radio and TV stations, is shuttering its doors after almost 60 years.
The board of directors voted Monday to dissolve the organization months after Congress passed spending cuts that stripped it of more than $1 billion in funding at President Trump’s encouragement.
The decision comes after “sustained political attacks that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended,” the agency said in a statement.
“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,” Patricia Harrison, the organization’s CEO, said.
As Republicans pointed toward a liberal bias in public broadcasting, the second Trump administration spurred such accusations into action. In August, the agency announced it would begin shutting down after the Republican-led House and Senate passed the funding cuts.
CPB said at the time that most staff positions would be eliminated by the end of September, with a small team remaining through January.
In recent months, the agency’s pockets have been emptying into public media organizations, and the organization said Monday it would distribute all of its remaining funds.
Created by Congress in 1967, CPB helped support more than 1,500 local radio and TV stations nationwide.
• Mary McCue Bell can be reached at mbell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.