Corporation for Public Broadcasting CEO Patricia Harrison used her prepared remarks at the organization’s final board meeting on January 29 to reflect on CPB’s legacy and outline a final transition aimed at sustaining local public radio and television outlets nationwide.
“For generations, Americans have supported and benefited from national and local public media,” Harrison said. “While the federal appropriation was never taken for granted, few believed that any administration would seek to eliminate such an essential component of our democracy and civil society.”
She described CPB’s nearly 60-year function as steward of the federal appropriation, but noted the loss of funding forced a compressed timeline to protect the system. “In the wake of Congress’s decision to defund the CPB, we knew we had a limited time to protect a proud legacy and the important work public media does every day to serve the American public.”
Rather than continue operating without independence, Harrison framed dissolution as necessary. “In a profound irony, it is precisely because public media remains so essential to American civic life that CPB’s final act must be to dissolve for the greater good,” warning that continued operation under new conditions could compromise editorial protections.
The CPB board voted to end the organization in early January.
“We could have survived by complying with demands for political control over news coverage, by rewriting history, by limiting the stories and information shared with the American public, by abandoning diverse talent, by supporting content that increases divisiveness through disinformation. But that was never going to happen on our watch, and that is less than what the American people deserve.”
Instead, the organization accelerated grantmaking to stations. “Since just October, CPB has granted over $170 million in funding to the public media system, in grant decisions that focused on sustaining public media’s mission, legacy, and service to the American people,” she commented.
Harrison closed with a directive to local leaders and communities: “The future of public media and our nation depends on each of you. It depends on all of us, across the country, working together to ensure that public media survives.”
