Corporation for Public Broadcasting to dissolve after federal funding cut

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said on Monday that its board voted to dissolve the organization after Congress cut off its federal funding, ending a more than half-century role funding NPR, PBS and hundreds of local radio and TV stations across the United States. The vote formalized plans announced last year to wind down operations after lawmakers stripped more than $500 million in annual funding.

Executives have been emptying the corporation’s coffers in recent months by making grants to public media organizations. After the federal funding ended, executives debated putting the organization into hibernation in case Congress eventually restored its federal appropriation, but the corporation said allowing it to lie dormant could have resulted in "political manipulation or misuse," threatening the independence of public media.

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Business, C.p.b, Npr, Pbs, Congress, Patricia Harrison