Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/01/cpb-npr-pbs-corporation-public-broadcasting

49 comments

  1. This is fucked.

    I grew up with CPB-funded shows. Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow.

    What the fuck is happening.

    # Release the Epstein files!

  2. I’m 55 years old. This was created for me and my generation. It was created for my children and their generation. I watched the first episode of Sesame Street with my mom and later my brother and sister; still later with my kids. I watch news, cultural shows, science tv, local broadcasts from my community. Seeing it unravel is painful.

    People masquerading as conservatives stole this precious and integral part of our national media landscape and discarded it like trash. It’s not conservative to destroy willy nilly. It’s social vandalism and nihilism. If they had any shame they’d be feeling it.

  3. I’m at a complete loss for words over this and angry beyond the scope of my imagination that this is happening. How and why would these people put him back in the Oval! He is hell bent on destroying our country.

    Edit: This is wrong on so many levels. 52 and I grew up watching so many of the shows. Electric Company, Zoom and Sesame Street which I loved. Shout out to Don Music, who banged his head on the piano when Gen X was growing up!

  4. I’ll put it as eloquently as I can: 

    This is some bullshit

  7. This makes my chest hurt. The shows they produced were my only comfort in a house with too many children and not enough love. Mister Rogers and Sesame Street were my only friends as a child. Damn that bastard for ruining the magic for future generations.

  11. Would love to see CBC Canada makesome sort of an agreement for rights to broadcast PBS content online for our southern neighbors.

  12. I’m really disappointed, I thought for sure there would be some jillionaire to step up to the plate and save them. This hits hard.

  13. This one hurts so much. This year has been filled with horrors and atrocities I never thought I’d see in this country but this one is just…..ya know even if we can somehow survive this presidency and start to pick up the pieces some things cant be repaired and I believe this is one of those things. Just like with the national parks you cant get it back once its been sold for timber its just like soo hard to try to not be utterly devastated and defeated with the state of things. “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping” but god it feels so hopeless.

  14. Write/call/speak on social media to your elected officials!!! Go to your local station and support public broadcasting and go to [foundation.pbs.org](https://foundation.pbs.org)to donate.

  15. What I dont understand is that Alice Walton has been on there showing off her Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and is worth 100 billion or more. She could fund this by herself.

  16. Don’t worry everyone! Trump will broadcast great programming from his brand new $200 million ball room and / or his $1b Qatari plane!

  17. Expect more fast paced Cocomelon slop and garbage baited by dumb parents who have no media literacy.

  18. The CPB only exists to hand out congressional funds, and those are now zero.

    PBS, NPR, local stations, those all still exist… For now. But even if new Congresses and administrations reverse course money will have to be spent spinning it back up if it ever exists again.

    I think public media in this country need to look at merging to survive. PBS and NPR have separate programming and news capabilities that can be combined. Big cities have competing public radio stations, or one organization owning a classical station and another owning the news station. Separate fundraising, real estate, benefits, everything.

    I love the decentralized nature of public media in this country, but that depended on an overall organization like the CPB to make grants and give support. Support like having a blanket license for music rights for all of public broadcasting. That’s gone now.

  19. It’s almost like they don’t want an educated populace. 🤔

  21. Wow. This is the kind of shit even Reagan couldn’t accomplish.

  22. It will be near impossible to rebuild this infrastructure once it’s gone.

  23. I want these people to pay for this. My blood is boiling. But as usual, it’s the regular people – and especially their kids – that will pay for this in the immediate. Please God let there be hell to pay for this

  24. This sucks. I’m also really curious if any of the stations will continue. There were some things you could ONLY watch on your local PBS. No streaming or dvds were ever made.

    One thing in particular I will miss is Saturday nights in west Virginia. Our local PBS would show things about our local area, the folklore, the history. They would then have a concert with local artists. That’s lost media now.

  25. Another thing that was Project 2025 that was explicitly read out at the DNC.  Can’t say they didn’t warn us.

  27. It’s not like America apparently got any benefit from educational programming anyway.

  28. As enraging and gutting as this is, remember that your local library still has fun and educational materials (DVDs included) and events for all ages and for FREE!! 

  29. If you hate diversity, equity, and inclusion this actually makes sense. Defund the organization that you believe is corrupting American youth.

    … But if you think those values are corruption of American youth, what the fuck are the values you think they should have?

  31. I’m so sad for America.

    What a shitty timeline you’re in.

  32. The end of an era, and the beginning of another: the conservative disinformation age.

    Now there will be no unbiased source to organizing scientific findings into neat shows that showcase the cutting edge advancements of humanity. No documentaries showinging us the nature of the world we live in, whether it be conflicts between humans or the natural world.

    Just billionaires and politicians who are slowly chipping away at the ability for us to access knowledge without their fingers being in it, to own things without paying them a fee, to have a voice without their approval.

  34. I work for NPR stations across the country in their national underwriting department. This hurts

  35. Apparently the funding from “viewers like you” ran out 😞

  36. In the fiery pits of Hell, his father is yelling “Way to go, son! That’s my boy!

  37. I’m not saying any of you are, but if any of you are I don’t get how anyone would be friends or associate themselves with a republican at this point. I blocked them all on all social media. And to be honest when someone does and I find out they were a trump supporter I no longer care that they’ve left earth. They were just making it a worse place anyway

  38. Will PBS youtube channels like SpaceTime also shut down?

  39. Fun fact: CPB was run by GOP operative Patricia Harrison for many years. I think this was their ultimate goal and many people had warned this was going to happen. Harrison and her husband have a very interesting history. I would encourage people to look into it. It is claimed that her husband single-handedly invented climate denial while pretending to be an environmentalist. They also have deep connections to the tobacco lobby that stalled reform until the 1990s.

    The general idea is that you put people into important, strategic positions with a long term goal, and when the right time comes you execute a decision that impacts the future of the organization in a significant way. Krysten Sinema is a highly cited example. Without Sinema, we might have voting rights, wage increases, net neutrality protections, and higher taxes on the wealthy. One person can change history. Harrison’s goal might have been different from what people believe.

  40. You finally did it conservatives. I’m sure you’re happy as hell. I really despise these people. 😒

  41. This is awful, and it gives me such a terrible feeling in my gut, as someone who grew up on PBS. Is this the kind of thing that a future leader in the US can reverse?

  42. Action mindset. The CPB site indicates where it’s money goes. While the federal government is failing, would it be feasible to do some kind of Kickstarter for the recipient TV/radio stations to keep them viable. Yes, making up for billions isn’t feasible, could triage and do something for those most affected.

    Once stations shutter, I would doubt they would ever reopen and while most of us may never listen in these markets, it would be a loss, and a public safety risk (less communications reach).

    While the current government continues to fail us by dismantling social structures, we would do well to reorient our thinking to save ourselves.

  43. So…why are any of us paying taxes? To fund Israel?

  47. For someone raised on their content, it’s a punch to the gut I can’t even fathom.

  48. Could this come back when that orange piece of human shit leaves office?

  49. I’m so tired of being angry about shit but it’s impossible not to be.

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