Ken Burns calls it "shortsighted" to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Source: CBS News

July 6, 2025 / 10:14 AM EDT


Filmmaker Ken Burns said it's "shortsighted" to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as public media has become a target of the White House in recent months.

"This seems foolhardy and seems misguided, mainly because there is a perception among a handful of people that this is somehow a blue or a left-wing thing," Burns said of cutting funds to PBS in an interview that aired Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

President Trump signed an executive order in May instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the private nonprofit that serves as the steward of the funding to public media, to cease federal funding for PBS and NPR. Then in June, the House approved a request from the White House to claw back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The package is expected to be taken up by the Senate in the coming weeks as the White House has targeted the public media entities, claiming they have "spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'"

Burns, whose upcoming film "The American Revolution" is expected to air on PBS in November and has had more than 40 documentaries on the public broadcaster, told "CBS Evening News" co-anchor John Dickerson that he's worried about PBS' future, noting that he's "always been worried about it."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ken-burns-pbs-cuts-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-trump/