Corporation for Public Broadcasting votes itself out of existence

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967.

CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell.

“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,” said Patricia Harrison, the organization’s president and CEO.

Many Republicans have long accused public broadcasting, particularly its news programming, of being biased but it wasn’t until the second Trump administration — with full GOP control of Congress — that those criticisms were turned into action.

Ruby Calvert, head of CPB’s board of directors, said the federal defunding of public media has been devastating.

“Even at 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,” Calvert said.

CPB said it was financially supporting the American Archive of Public Broadcasting in its effort to preserve historic content, and is working with the University of Maryland to maintain its own records.

“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.”

CPB funding was previously distributed to more than 1,500 local public radio and television stations nationwide, including WTIP Community Radio.

WTIP did not receive funding from the CPB as of Oct. 1, 2025. The funding rescission means WTIP lost $170,000 from its 2025 budget.

Without the funding in 2026, WTIP Community Radio will lose $238,000 in federal CPB funding, or about 25% of its annual budget.

WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins contributed to this article.

Associated Press January 6, 2026