The board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has voted to dissolve the 58-year-old organization following the U.S. Congress’s decision to withdraw all federal funding.
The CPB was created by Congress to oversee the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. After seeing its funding stopped and amid “sustained political attacks,” the CPB said, it is “impossible… to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended.” A CPB statement noted that “maintaining the corporation as a nonfunctional entity would not serve the public interest or advance the goals of public media. A dormant and defunded CPB could have become vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse, threatening the independence of public media and the trust audiences place in it, and potentially subjecting staff and board members to legal exposure from bad-faith actors.”
Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, said in a statement: “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. When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic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.”
Ruby Calvert, board chair, added: “What has happened to public media is devastating. After nearly six decades of innovative, 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 in this moment, I am convinced that public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children’s education, our history, culture, and democracy to do so.”
The CPB will ensure the “responsible distribution” of any remaining funds and provide support to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
“Public media remains essential to a healthy democracy,” Harrison said. “Our hope is that future leaders and generations will recognize its value, defend its independence, and continue the work of ensuring that trustworthy, educational, and community-centered media remains accessible to all Americans.”
