Overview
- Last Week Tonight opened the “John Oliver’s Junk” auction, running through November 24, offering 65 props and experiences that include an original 1987 Bob Ross painting.
- Congress eliminated $1.1 billion in Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding for the next two years, a move publicly praised by President Donald Trump.
- More than 70% of CPB dollars historically flowed directly to local radio and TV stations for programming, equipment and content acquisition, making them especially vulnerable to the loss.
- An analysis cited on the show projects roughly 115 stations serving about 43 million people could shut by mid-2026, with rural and tribal communities at greatest risk.
- Public media’s local reporting, multilingual programming and emergency communications are at stake, and the U.S. already spends about $1.60 per capita on public media versus nearly $100 or more in countries like Norway, Sweden and the U.K.