TPT, the Twin Cities PBS television station, is laying off an unspecified number of employees because of federal funding cuts.
“Due to the loss of federal funding, we have made the decision to reduce our staff. All impacted staff were notified earlier today, and their last day will be tomorrow, Wednesday, July 23,” Sylvia Strobel, president and chief executive of Twin Cities PBS, wrote in a Tuesday email to employees obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The email did not specify the number of employees involved in the staff cuts or how programming would be affected.
The cuts come just days after Congress approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for 2026 and 2027.
The funding helps support locally operated public television and radio stations, but the Trump White House has asserted that public media is politically biased and the federal funding was unneeded.
“As discussed at several All Staff meetings, we have been engaged in intensive advocacy and financial contingency planning for months. We hoped for a different outcome, but these actions were necessary to ensure our resiliency through an uncertain economic landscape,” Strobel wrote.
“We are sad to see our colleagues go and wish them well as they leave TPT. We know this news is upsetting, and we are here for you as we all navigate this transition and continued uncertainty within public media. We remain deeply committed to our mission and to protecting TPT and the public media system.”
Strobel could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
