NPR and PBS Never Needed Your Taxpayer Dollars
2nd February 2026
National Review, which has sadly degenerated in the last fifty years.
When Republican lawmakers moved last year to end taxpayer funding for PBS and NPR, a constellation of media CEOs and experts warned that the cuts would result in the closure of dozens, possibly hundreds, of affiliate stations.
It has now been six months since President Trump signed a bill eliminating $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the predicted newsroom Armageddon has yet to materialize.
In fact, of the more than 1,000 television and radio stations that make up the country’s public media system, nearly all remain operational.
“Vanishingly few” affiliates have closed down since last summer, according to the New York Times.