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Boston Globe
09-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
GBH is laying off 10 employees from global news and documentary channel WORLD due to federal funding cuts
Advertisement The layoffs come roughly a year after GBH Goldberg said Friday that the layoffs and programming changes will take effect June 30, when the funding expires and PBS member station licenses for the channel end. She added that CPB paid for about half of the channel's costs and that this new approach is 'more financially sustainable in the current environment.' Advertisement 'We're grateful to all of our WORLD employees, for all of their hard work,' she said. Zoe Mathews, the steward for the union that represents GBH reporters and producers as well as some WORLD staffers, noted in a statement that the WORLD staff included award-winning documentarians who 'humanize complex issues through the work they do, often facilitating first-time filmmakers and storytellers from historically underrepresented communities.' 'To eliminate these journalists in this moment, in the way GBH has moved to do, is a betrayal of the very mission of GBH,' Mathews said. The cuts come against the backdrop of efforts from the Trump administration to end funding for public media. President Trump signed an executive order last week In a statement last week, CPB chief executive Patricia Harrison said that CPB is not subject to the president's authority. 'In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade 'any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors.'' she said. While federal funding represents about 8 percent of GBH's annual revenue, additional federal funding cuts could have an outsized impact on its business due to the interconnectedness of the NPR and PBS networks. GBH is one of the largest producers of PBS programming in the country, which includes programs such as Masterpiece and Antiques Roadshow and kids shows such as 'Work It Out Wombats!' Advertisement The White House has also cut grants to Aidan Ryan can be reached at
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Administration Terminates Education Grant That Has Helped Fund PBS Kids Content
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said today that the Trump administration has terminated grants that have long been used to fund education initiatives and PBS Kids programming. The CPB said that it was informed by the Department of Education on Friday that the 2020-25 Ready to Learn grant was being canceled, forcing it to inform PBS and 44 public media stations to pause the long-running program. More from Deadline 'Nearly every parent has raised their kids on public broadcasting's children's content,' Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the corporation. 'For the past 30 years, Ready To Learn-funded PBS Kids content has produced measurable, real-world impacts on children's learning. Ready To Learn has received strong bipartisan support from Congress and every Administration for the last 30 years because of the programs' proven educational value in advancing early learning skills for all children. We will work with Congress and the Administration to preserve funding for this essential program.' A spokesperson for the Department of Education did not immediately return a request for comment. The grants have helped fund such shows as Molly of Denali, Work It Out Wombats! and Lyla in the Loop. Ready to Learn was established to improve education for preschool and early elementary students, with goals of reaching those in low-income communities. The Ready to Learn grant was authorized as a 1992 amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS have received grants each five year cycle, with the latest expiring on Sept. 30. According to the Education Department, CPB and PBS were expected to receive a total of $105 million under the program for the past five years. The grants are separate from the congressional appropriation to the CPB, which has been $535 million. Last week, Trump signed an executive order ordering the CPB to end federal funding to PBS and NPR. But the CPB and those networks have challenged the president's authority to do so, as Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.' Trump also ordered other federal agencies to end funding to public media. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
