Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which funds PBS, NPR — to close after federal aid cut

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which distributes money to NPR and PBS — will shut down after the loss of federal funding, the nonprofit said on Friday.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a $9 billion funding cut to public media and foreign aid last month.

This included the elimination of $1.1 billion earmarked for the CPB over the next two years.

“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 and CEO Patricia Harrison said.

CPB informed its employees that the majority of its staff will be let go as of September end, except a small transition team that will remain through January 2026 to ensure closeout of operations.

Created by Congress in 1967, the CPB distributed more than $500 million annually to the PBS, NPR and more than 1,500 locally operated public radio and television stations.

President Trump and many of his fellow Republicans argue that financing public broadcasting is an unnecessary expense and that its news coverage suffers from an anti-right bias.

The Trump administration has also filed a lawsuit against three board members of the CPB who have not left their posts despite Trump’s attempt to fire them.