How Congress’ Cuts Will Squeeze Public Broadcasting

A cost-cutting package fast-tracked through Congress is poised to decimate a system that has supported public TV and radio stations for nearly six decades.

The move by Republican lawmakers to strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of its funding will cut off an important source of support for more than 1,000 local TV and radio stations. The CPB, a government-funded nonprofit created in the 1960s to help Americans access news, educational content and the arts, funnels more than $500 million a year to local stations and, to a lesser extent, the national public broadcasting networks National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).