The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Friday that, after being defunded by Congress, it would begin taking steps toward its own closure, the Associated Press reports. The announcement comes after a nearly 60-year run in which CPB drove the production of well-known educational programming, cultural content, emergency alerts and more.
The closure is anticipated to have an enormous impact on the journalistic and cultural landscape, particularly public radio and TV stations in small communities across the nation.
CPB’s demise is a result of President Donald Trump’s targeting of public media. The president has repeatedly criticized the political and cultural views it spreads.Â
CPB helps fund both PBS and NPR, but the majority of its funding is distributed across over 1,500 local public radio and television stations in the U.S.
