PBS informed 34 staffers on Thursday they were being laid off as part of a broader downsizing effort that’s resulted in 100 jobs being cut in recent months. The cuts were triggered in part by the Trump administration’s rescissions package, which slashed over $1 billion in federal funding for public broadcasting.
“Due to the loss of federal funding, PBS eliminated close to 100 positions over the last several months, including 34 valued PBS staff members notified yesterday their employment is ending. In this unprecedented moment, we remain focused on what matters most: ensuring our member stations can deliver quality content and services to communities across America,” a PBS spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Republicans in the Senate and House narrowly passed the rescissions package in July that yanked over $1 billion in federal broadcast funding for the fiscal year.
PROMINENT LIBERALS AND MEDIA FIGURES DECLARE CUTS TO PBS, NPR A ‘PERILOUS MOMENT’
Trump’s multibillion-dollar clawback package targeted what he called “woke” spending, including foreign aid programs and federal support for NPR and PBS, as Republicans finally yanked federal money from public news outlets in a move advocates said was long overdue.
The package blocked $8 billion in funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), along with $1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR.
“Over the last weeks, we have been working through how best to manage the impact of loss of federal funding,” CEO Paula Kerger wrote to station managers, according to NPR.
RURAL NPR STATIONS ‘DISAPPOINTED,’ DETERMINED TO SURVIVE AFTER RESCISSION PACKAGE ELIMINATES FEDERAL FUNDING
“Just like every single public media organization in the country, we are being forced to make hard choices,” she continued. “While we have seen good progress from our Foundation, including a significant grant from a major donor to help support the ‘NewsHour’ and ‘Kids’ content, we recognized that we need to make significant changes in our staffing and operations.”
All areas of PBS are expected to be affected when federal funding for public broadcasting ends on Oct. 1.
While many Trump supporters have lauded the move, liberal commentators, lawmakers and journalists working for PBS and NPR were sharply critical.
NPR CEO KATHERINE MAHER VENTS ‘DEEP FRUSTRATION’ OVER GOP CUTS, SAYS IT WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE
Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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