What is public media?
Public media refers to television, radio, and digital outlets created to deliver informative, educational, and culturally enriching content to every community across the country, at no cost to its audiences. You may know it best through shows like Sesame Street and Arthur on PBS, or Fresh Air and Radiolab on NPR, but public media also includes hundreds of local stations and a growing library of podcasts serving communities nationwide.
Unlike commercial broadcasting, public media prioritizes service over profit. It is driven by a mission to inform, educate, and uplift, with a focus on universal access and meeting the unique needs of the communities it serves. As a result, it has become one of the most trusted sources of information.
While some stations accept limited corporate sponsorships to sustain their operations, strict regulations prevent those sponsors from influencing content or programming decisions. This distinction matters: when funders can shape the news, information can become a tool for propaganda. Public media was designed to be a safeguard against that, serving as a source communities can trust precisely because no corporation or political interest controls what it covers.
Public media is made possible through a mix of listener and viewer donations, foundation grants, and until its recent closure by the federal government, funding distributed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
Why is public media important?
A citizen’s access to education and reliable information is essential to a healthy democracy. Voters must understand the issues that affect their lives in order to make informed decisions, and public media exists to ensure that access to accurate, trustworthy information is available to everyone, free from corporate or political influence.
Public media has been showing up for communities for nearly six decades, long before local commercial journalism began to disappear. As news deserts spread and local news dried up, public media stayed. Now, for the first time, its survival is not guaranteed.
Public media did not happen by accident. It was built on a deliberate belief that access to honest information and quality programming is not a privilege. It is a right. And without it, democracy itself suffers.
What is the Public Broadcasting Act (PBA)?
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act (PBA) into law, driven by the belief that it was in the public’s best interest to “encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting,” especially for underserved communities.
The PBA established two landmark commitments:
- Dedicated funding for educational public broadcasting, ensuring stations could deliver programming to every community without relying on commercial advertising or paywalls.
- Creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit organization charged with distributing federal funding to public stations, with strict requirements for objectivity and balance to ensure public media could never be weaponized as a tool for propaganda or partisan influence.
As part of the legislation, the federal government also commissioned a study on how audiences engaged with public programming, ensuring public media could better serve the communities it was built for.
What was the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)?
Until its defunding in 2025, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was a nonprofit that distributed congressional funding to create and support local, trusted public programming.
In an effort to protect public media from political influence, funding was approved in advance on a two-year cycle through congressional budgeting. Every year, the CPB would receive approximately $500 million. More than 70% of CPB’s funds were directed to over 1,500 local stations, with the remainder supporting national programming and operations.
Among CPB’s most notable accomplishments was helping to establish the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).
- PBS (Public Broadcasting Service): Founded in 1969, PBS is a nonprofit public broadcaster known for its educational, cultural, and news programming, including PBS NewsHour, and children’s shows rooted in early education, like Sesame Street and Arthur.
- NPR (National Public Radio): Founded in 1970, NPR is a nonprofit media organization dedicated to public service journalism across radio, digital platforms, and live events. With a broadcast reach covering approximately 99% of the U.S. population, its signature programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered have become essential sources of national and international news.
For nearly sixty years, the CPB played a central role in shaping national and local public media.
In addition, the CPB and network of public media played an important role in the emergency alert system. For example, the CPB carried out a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funded grant program that helped stations replace and update essential equipment—such as backup generators and transmitters—ensuring broadcasters could remain operational and continue to reach the public during times of crisis.
What happened to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)?
On May 1st, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the CPB to stop federal funding for NPR and PBS—a move that set the stage for dismantling public media as Americans had known it for nearly six decades.
In response, several local stations filed lawsuits in an attempt to block the order. These included PBS and rural Minnesota-based Lakeland PBS, as well as NPR and three Colorado stations: Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT.
While an executive order could not cut congressionally approved funding, it prompted Congress to pass the legislation that could, and ultimately did, cut the funding.
On July 25th, 2025, Congress passed the Rescissions Act of 2025, cutting approximately $1.1 billion in funding for the CPB for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. In doing so, they eliminated the financial foundation that supported public media.
In August, 2025, the CPB announced that it would phase out operations. In January 2026, CPB’s Board of Directors officially voted to dissolve the organization completely, choosing a clean end over leaving an empty shell that could be politically manipulated or misused to threaten the independence of public media in the future.
What does the end of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and its funding mean for public media?
PBS and NPR remain operational for now, with limited individual donations and corporate sponsorships. Still, PBS and NPR, along with hundreds of local stations face significant funding challenges that have already impacted programming.
PBS and NPR programming is delivered to communities through local stations; however, many of these stations also create their own shows. For example, WQED Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania created Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood; WDMU in Muncie, Indiana produced The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross; and WBEZ Chicago has produced Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Without the support of the CPB, local stations are struggling to continue their programming.
Prior to closing, the CPB funded 386 radio grantees and 158 television grantees. These grantees ultimately supported 1,216 public radio stations and 365 public TV stations across the country.
Nearly half of CPB’s grantees were rural, which gave 99% of Americans access to public media. As news deserts continue to grow, many of these communities now face losing the last remaining source of accurate, local news and information they could count on.
These local stations are the first to report on regional issues: covering local elections, road closures, community resources, and life-saving emergency alerts that directly affect residents’ daily lives.
Local stations were heavily reliant on the CPB and its financial support. It remains unclear whether many local stations, especially those in rural communities, will be able to survive without the federal funding.
How can we support public media?
Public media connects, informs, and inspires millions of people every day. Cuts to this essential service mean fewer original programs, reduced local reporting, and the closure of stations that communities nationwide depend on.
With the collapse of funding for public media, the rise of misinformation and disinformation, and increased attacks on the freedom of the press, you can help by:
- Supporting local independent journalism: Subscribe and consider donating to your local stations (PBS look-up, NPR look-up).
- Advocating for public resources: Contact your elected officials and urge them to vote for bills that ensure public media remains accessible to all.
- Sharing with others: Spread the word about public media by promoting local stations to your friends and family.
Published April 30, 2026.