Tipsheet

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Is No More

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  January 10, 2026 6:00 AM

It didn’t have to happen this way, but tax dollars subsidizing left-wing propaganda were going to end. It’s been a long time coming, with conservatives hoping to end funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which keeps outlets like PBS and NPR afloat. Congress cut the funding over the summer, setting the wheels in motion for the CPB to close (via Fox News): 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced its board voted to dissolve itself after 58 years as an organization after Congress voted last year to pull federal funding allocated to NPR and PBS. 

[…] 

CPB said it will distribute its remaining funds leading up to its official closure. In August, the CPB announced it would shut down operations as a result of the defunding.  

For decades, Republicans campaigned on ending federal funding for public media, which had been allocated from the CPB to NPR and PBS. 

[…] 

NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger staunchly defended their media organizations while testifying on Capitol Hill in March. Both faced tough questions from Republicans over past allegations of bias and promoting far-left ideologies.  

Yes, Ms. Maher's hearing did not go well.

More from CPB: 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress to steward the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting, announced today that its Board of Directors has voted to dissolve the organization after 58 years of service to the American public. 

The decision follows Congress’s rescission of all of CPB’s federal funding and comes after sustained political attacks that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended. 

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 “When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic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

Oh, yes, if we don’t have left-wing NPR at full funding, our democracy is at risk. 

We won; you lost. See you later.