New Jersey PBS to shut down after Trump and Congress defunded PBS and NPR
‘New Jerseyans are losing the sources of information necessary to make informed decisions,’ New Jersey U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said.
In July, all three Republicans in the New Jersey congressional delegation voted to go along with President Donald Trump’s demand that Congress repeal $9 billion in federal spending over the next two years, including all of the $1.1 billion in funding it had allocated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Now New Jersey’s sole public television station says it will cease operations due to the cuts.
“The recent cuts by the federal government and New Jersey state government have been very significant,” NJ PBS said in a Sept. 23 statement. “Regrettably, WNET has been unable to reach an agreement with the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority to extend the management of New Jersey’s public television network beyond the expiration date of June 30, 2026.”
In addition to broadcasting popular programs like “Sesame Street,” “Arthur,” “Nova,” and “Masterpiece,” NJ PBS produces local news and educational programming. In 2024, the station received more than $1.6 million in federal money, comprising about 15% of its total funding.
From 1967 until this year, the congressionally created nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided operating funds for public radio and television, including National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Millions of dollars of those grants went to the state of New Jersey for its public radio and television programming.
Trump’s Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought wrote in a May letter to the president that funding for the CPB and the U.S. Agency for International Development and other international assistance programs was “wasteful and unnecessary spending that is no longer needed for the purposes for which they were appropriated.” Vought said the public media system “is politically biased and is an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”
On July 18, New Jersey Republican Reps.Tom Kean Jr., Chris Smith, and Jeff Van Drew voted to approve Trump’s request to rescind all approved funding for the corporation. None of the three responded to requests for comments for this story.
Although a Pew Research Center poll conducted in March found just 24% support among American adults for defunding public broadcasting, Trump’s proposed recisions passed in the GOP-led House of Representatives by a 216-213 vote, with every Democratic representative voting no. The GOP-led Senate approved them 51-48, with New Jersey Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim voting no.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is the Democratic nominee for governor, used her social media accounts to blast the cuts and her Republican opponent, former Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli: “NJ PBS doesn’t just have kids’ shows and trusted, local news programming, but also critical emergency notification systems that kept residents safe during disasters. This is another consequence of the Trump cuts that @Jack4NJ endorsed, and it will hurt New Jersey. I will work to find new ways to fund public media because I believe it’s critical to keeping New Jerseyans safe and informed.”
Ciattarelli’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Other Democratic members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation also used social media to denounce the public broadcasting cuts.
“The closure of New Jersey PBS is a loss for all of us who live here. Their programming benefits all New Jerseyans young and old,” said Sen. Cory Booker on Sept. 23. “I’ll continue to stand up to the attacks on public broadcasting and support local networks in Jersey and across the country.”
“NJ PBS is one of the only major statewide networks in New Jersey, focused on New Jersey, that reaches all 21 counties,” said Sen. Andy Kim that day. “Now, it may cease to exist because Republicans in Congress went back on their word and voted to take money from Elmo and Daniel Tiger and give to billionaires.”
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman wrote: “An informed citizenry is necessary to a strong community and strong democracy. From NJ.com laying off its DC reporter, to News12 scaling back its political coverage, to this latest news of the upcoming closure of NJPBS, New Jerseyans are losing the sources of information necessary to make informed decisions about their elected leaders and New Jersey’s future.”
