Overview

• Congress approved a rescissions package that withdrew more than $1 billion in federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, eliminating grants to NPR and PBS for the fiscal year.
• NPR CEO Katherine Maher expressed deep frustration with the cuts and pledged to continue operations despite cutting $8 million from the network’s budget.
• Maher warned that rural member stations dependent on CPB grants for up to 70% of their budgets face immediate coverage losses and layoffs of local journalists.
• Former NPR president Vivian Schiller called the funding loss a chance to overhaul governance and urged community and philanthropic support for local stations.
• Tensions over media impartiality and government funding for journalism are escalating as public broadcasters seek new financial models.