Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down after being defunded by Congress, targeted by Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cornerstone of American culture for three generations, announced Friday it would begin taking steps toward its own closure after being defunded by Congress.

This announcement marks the end of a nearly six-decade era in which it fueled the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and even emergency alerts.

The demise of the corporation, known as CPB, is a direct result of President Donald Trump’s targeting of public media, which he has repeatedly said is spreading political and cultural views antithetical to those the United States should be espousing. The closure is expected to have a profound impact on the journalistic and cultural landscape — in particular, public radio and TV stations in small communities across the United States. CPB helps fund both PBS and NPR.

The corporation also has deep ties to much of the nation’s most familiar programming, from NPR’s “All Things Considered” to, historically, “Sesame Street,” “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and the documentaries of Ken Burns.

The corporation said its end, 58 years after being signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, would come in an “orderly wind-down.” passage of a package that included defunding and the decision Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee to exclude funding for the corporation for the first time in over 50 years. The corporation had hoped that the new budget might restore its funding, but that did not happen.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said Patricia Harrison, the corporation’s president and CEO.

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