Major funding source for NPR and other public programing voted to dissolve

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board voted to dissolve CPB in response to a lack of funding from Congress. This organization funded public programing, including Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street. One justification they used for this move was to prevent CPB, idle without funding, from being used for purposes other than what it was intended to be used for. Patricia Harrison, President and CEO, stated that public media was essential for a healthy democracy.

From the Corporation for Public Broadcasting:

“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,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. “When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic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.”

“What has happened to public media is devastating,” said Ruby Calvert, Chair of CPB’s Board of Directors. “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.”

First authorized by Congress under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, CPB helped build and sustain a nationwide public media system of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public radio and television stations. Through CPB’s stewardship, public media became a trusted civic resource–delivering educational programming like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street that helped generations of children learn and grow, providing lifesaving emergency alerts during natural disasters and crises, and supporting rigorous, fact-based journalism that uncovers issues impacting people’s daily lives, connects neighbors to one another, and strengthens civic participation.

CPB’s Board determined that without the resources to fulfill its congressionally mandated responsibilities, 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.

While CPB’s chapter is ending, the mission of public media endures. Local stations, producers, journalists, and educators across the country will continue serving their communities, informing the public, and elevating local voices.

Additional Reading:

Press Release. (2026, January 5). Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board votes to dissolve organization in act of responsible stewardship to protect the future of public media. Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Link.

Category: Media