Corporation for Public Broadcasting board votes to dissolve organization after Congress defunds NPR, PBS

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.

"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," CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement Monday. "When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic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," CPB’s Board of Directors chair Ruby Calvert said. "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." 

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.

In recent years, NPR and PBS have been in the crosshairs of Trump and GOP lawmakers over allegations of political bias, which NPR and PBS leadership have vehemently denied. 

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.