CPB shutting down
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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the conduit for federal funds to NPR and PBS, announced on Friday that it is beginning to wind down its operations given President Trump has signed a law clawing back $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting through fiscal year 2027.
The announcement follows a largely party-line vote last month that approved the cuts to public broadcasting as part of a $9 billion rescissions package requested by the White House that also included cuts to foreign aid. While public media officials had held a glimmer of hope that lawmakers would restore some of the money for the following budget year, the Senate Appropriations Committee declined to do that on Thursday.
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/01/nx-s1-5489808/cpb-shut-down-public-broadcasting-trump
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What CPB shutting down means. To @Piano-Dad 's point:
Only four Republicans in both chambers of Congress broke with their party and voted with all Democrats against the package: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Turner of Ohio.
“If you don’t like what’s going on within NPR, you think that there’s too much bias there, we can address that,” Sen. Murkowski said in a floor speech ahead of the vote. “But you don’t need to gut the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting.” In an op-ed for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, she warned that the loss of CPB’s $12 million in funding for Alaska’s public stations—which covers between 30 and 70% of each stations’ budgets—would be “devastating.”
Sen. Collins expressed similar concerns: “I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it. Nevertheless, local TV and radio stations continue to provide important coverage. In Maine, this funding supports the emergency alert network, coverage of high school basketball championships, a locally produced high school quiz show, and classical music stations.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced a bill that would eliminate future funding for CPB altogether—a move that Harrison said “will cause irreparable harm, especially to small and rural public media stations.”
Without CPB grants, some stations may be forced to reduce staff, cut programming, or shut down altogether. That could have a significant impact in smaller communities, where public media stations are often among the few remaining sources of local journalism. Researchers have classified many rural areas as “news deserts” due to the decline of local newspapers and commercial outlets. Public broadcasters have filled that gap in many communities by providing access to local news coverage, educational content, and emergency alerts.
Those stations may seek new funding from state governments or private donors, but these solutions are not likely to fully replace the funding CPB provided.
https://time.com/7307069/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-pbs-npr/
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Lauren Adams, general manager for KUCB public radio in Unalaska, Alaska, didn’t have much time to reflect on Congress, 4,000 miles away, stripping federal funding for public media this week. She’s been too busy working.
Sirens blared in the Aleutian Islands community Wednesday warning of a potential tsunami, with a voice over public loudspeakers urging the community’s 4,100 residents to seek higher ground immediately and tune into the radio — to Adams’ station.
At the same time in Washington, the Senate was voting on a measure that would eliminate nearly $1.1 billion that had already been appropriated for NPR and PBS — a process that didn’t end until early Thursday morning. The House completed the process in time for President Donald Trump to sign it before a Friday deadline.
Trump had called for the cuts, saying public media’s news programming was biased against him and fellow Republicans, and threatened GOP members of Congress with primary challenges if they didn’t fall in line.
Adams, her news director, a reporter and an intern kept broadcasting and updating KUCB’s social media feed until the danger passed. Then she made time for one more task — texting U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and urging her to vote against the bill. Murkowski was one of two Republican senators, along with Susan Collins of Maine, to publicly dissent.
“I thought that it was such a telling story of why her constituents have a different relationship to public radio than maybe some other regions of the United States,” Adams said.
https://apnews.com/article/pbs-npr-public-broadcasting-funding-cuts-d5bf43d4a103f8b0c92cbb3080d9e44b
Setting up for another Kerr County to happen....
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Lauren Adams, general manager for KUCB public radio in Unalaska, Alaska, didn’t have much time to reflect on Congress, 4,000 miles away, stripping federal funding for public media this week. She’s been too busy working.
Sirens blared in the Aleutian Islands community Wednesday warning of a potential tsunami, with a voice over public loudspeakers urging the community’s 4,100 residents to seek higher ground immediately and tune into the radio — to Adams’ station.
At the same time in Washington, the Senate was voting on a measure that would eliminate nearly $1.1 billion that had already been appropriated for NPR and PBS — a process that didn’t end until early Thursday morning. The House completed the process in time for President Donald Trump to sign it before a Friday deadline.
Trump had called for the cuts, saying public media’s news programming was biased against him and fellow Republicans, and threatened GOP members of Congress with primary challenges if they didn’t fall in line.
Adams, her news director, a reporter and an intern kept broadcasting and updating KUCB’s social media feed until the danger passed. Then she made time for one more task — texting U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and urging her to vote against the bill. Murkowski was one of two Republican senators, along with Susan Collins of Maine, to publicly dissent.
“I thought that it was such a telling story of why her constituents have a different relationship to public radio than maybe some other regions of the United States,” Adams said.
https://apnews.com/article/pbs-npr-public-broadcasting-funding-cuts-d5bf43d4a103f8b0c92cbb3080d9e44b
Setting up for another Kerr County to happen....
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Sen. Collins expressed similar concerns: “I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it."
I guess the only media allowed should be way to the right? NPR rates just a little left with a high factual rating...
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Nothing about exceptions has come up in what I've looked at, including reading the rescissions bill. It simply states that the funds are gone. I checked sites like Fox News, too, and could find nothing about exceptions.
I'd be interesting in seeing that info, @Mik .
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Sen. Collins expressed similar concerns: “I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it."
I guess the only media allowed should be way to the right? NPR rates just a little left with a high factual rating...
@Rontuner said in CPB shutting down:
Sen. Collins expressed similar concerns: “I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it."
I guess the only media allowed should be way to the right? NPR rates just a little left with a high factual rating...
Not allowed. Funded with taxpayer dollars. No one is talking about what media should be allowed.
