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Corporation For Public Broadcasting To Shut Down Following Trump’s Funding Cuts

Published

3 weeks ago

August 2, 2025

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced on Friday that it will shut down operations, ending over 60 years of public media funding.

The move comes after President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers succeeded in eliminating federal support for the organization.

Trump recently signed a rescissions bill canceling $9 billion in previously approved government spending. Of that amount, $1.1 billion had been allocated to CPB for the next two years.

Trump has long criticized public media as “biased” against conservatives and made repeated efforts to cut its funding.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison.

“CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”

The organization is now focused on helping local PBS and NPR stations—especially those in rural areas—prepare for the resulting budget shortfalls.

Harrison previously warned that some stations could be forced to close entirely.

Larger outlets may survive with help from donors and other revenue streams, but public media leaders say the national network will be severely weakened.

“The ripple effects of this closure will be felt across every public media organization and, more importantly, in every community across the country that relies on public broadcasting,” said NPR CEO Katherine Maher.

The CPB expects to eliminate most of its 100 staff positions by September 30, when the current funding expires.

A small transition team will remain until January to oversee a “responsible and orderly closeout of operations.”

The shutdown marks a political win for Trump, who has pushed for defunding CPB since the start of his presidency. Earlier this year, he tried to remove three board members, despite lacking legal authority under the 1967 law that created the corporation.

CPB filed a lawsuit to block that attempt, but on Friday, it voluntarily dropped the case—effectively conceding defeat.

“REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED… BUT NO MORE,” Trump posted on Truth Social, celebrating the bill’s passage through the GOP-controlled House and Senate.

Some advocates had hoped that Congress might still restore funding through the usual budget process.

However, a draft Senate bill released Thursday included no CPB funding—suggesting those hopes are now unlikely to materialize.

Trump and other Republicans argue that defunding CPB is a stand against liberal influence in public broadcasting.

Public media supporters say the move undermines civic life and access to reliable news.

“The end of CPB is the direct result of the deep and corrupt failure of Congress and the Trump administration to invest in informing the American public,” said Craig Aaron, co-CEO of media advocacy group Free Press.

“They have trashed decades of democracy-building work and will deny many journalists, artists, educators and creators the opportunity to be heard.”

Aaron said he still believes there’s a chance to rebuild publicly funded media from the ground up. He called for a new system “as a bulwark against authoritarianism that meets the civic needs of all our communities.”

Some broadcasters are already mobilizing support. In Boston, GBH put up a sign reading, “Local. Trusted. Defunded.”

“We’re not backing down,” the station said in a fundraising message. “But we can’t do it without you. Donate now to keep public media strong and independent.”

(CNN)

Related Topics:#Trump Corporation For Broadcasting

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42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

12 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

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Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

12 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

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Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

12 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP