Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down this month after Trump axes funding

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced it will shut down this month, less than a year after the U.S. government removed its funding.

The organization, which was founded in 1967, was a key funder of PBS and NPR, as well as more than 1,500 local TV and radio stations.

In a statement to Variety, the CPB announced that their board of directors had voted to close the organization after 58 years rather than risk attempting to continue and becoming “vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse.”

CPB president Patricia Harrison said: “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.

“When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic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

PBS and NPR are seeking alternative funding, and some member stations have been forced to close down.

As The Independent has reported, the closure of CPB comes against the backdrop of eroding trust in mainstream media. Back in 2016, just 32 percent of adults said they had at least a fair amount of confidence in the press, and trust in the media actually increased to 45 percent by 2018.

However, since then, President Donald Trump and his allies in the right-wing media universe have engaged in an aggressive and concerted campaign to discredit the mainstream and legacy press, culminating in his return to the White House and an all-out assault on press freedoms and independence. At the same time, media conglomerations have capitulated to Trump’s threats and demands.

In the last year, the president has pushed for the dismantling of state-funded media and the defunding of public broadcasting, which has resulted in the shuttering of PBS and NPR stations, the curtailing of Voice of America and now the closure of CPB.

In a court filing submitted Monday, CPB asked for its court cases against President Trump to be dismissed on the grounds that the corporation is being dissolved. They stated they will file a Notice of Voluntary Dissolution on or about January 15 and their Articles of Dissolution on or about January 30.

CPB have also said they will distribute all remaining funds this month, with their archives set to be preserved and made available to the public at the University of Maryland.