Bit for the US Local Press: The Public Broadcasting Corporation closes after the reduction of financing
Capitol, USA. Credit Line: Francis Chung / Politico / AP / Profimedia
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) will cease its activity after loss of federal funding, the non-profit organization announced on Friday. This measure seriously affects the local television and radio stations that have been based on CPB subsidies for almost six decades, reports Reuters, quoted by News.ro.
The House of Representatives in the US, controlled by Republicans, approved a $ 9 billion reduction last month for public media and external aid, including eliminating $ 1.1 billion allocated CPB in the next two years.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts made by millions of Americans who called, wrote and addressed Congress petitions to maintain Federal Federation for CPB, we are now facing the difficult reality to close our activity,” said Patricia Harrison, president and executive director of the CPB.
The CPB has informed its employees that most of the staff will be fired at the end of September, except for a small transition team that will remain until January 2026 to ensure the closing of the operations.
Created by the US Congress in 1967, CPB has distributed over $ 500 million annually to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) and over 1,500 local radio and public television stations.
US President Donald Trump and many of his Republican colleagues claim that financing public broadcasting is a useless expense and that the news broadcast by it is influenced by an anti-right tendency.
