More layoffs at GBH as ‘Defunded’ sign goes viral

Boston’s GBH has laid off 13 more employees, bringing its total number of job cuts in 2025 to 67.

The 13 employees worked on the “American Experience” documentaries and further production of the series had been halted as of Tuesday.

GBH CEO and President Susan Goldberg said, “We needed to take some pretty quick action,” with funding cuts going into effect on Oct. 1.

Following congressional approval of the public broadcasting budget cuts last week, GBH put up three words on its digital billboard in Brighton — “Local. Trusted. Defunded.” — and the message went viral over the weekend.

This fall, “American Experience” will still release documentaries, including one on Henry Kissinger, the political scientist who served under Presidents Nixon and Ford. And in 2026, the program will reportedly rerelease its greatest documentaries in a “Best of America” series in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary, “while GBH seeks to reinvent the series.”

GBH previously laid off 54 workers this year, 45 of which — that made up 6% of the staff — were let go in June due to funding cuts and cost increases.

In 2024, GBH laid off 31 employees to help address a large deficit. 

Last week, Congress approved $9 billion in federal budget cuts, including $1.1 billion originally allocated for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. CPB distributes 70% of its federal funding to local radio and television stations, and the remaining 30% funds national programming at NPR and PBS. Due to the federal budget cuts, GBH will reportedly lose 8% of its funding, amounting to a loss of $18 million. 

“Public media costs each American $1.60 per year,” Goldberg said. “People spend way more, triple that, on a cup of coffee… and yet, somehow, this was deemed too expensive for the American taxpayer.”

In a LinkedIn post, with the viral sign, Goldberg wrote, “For decades, public media has informed and inspired Americans across this country. The decision by Congress to claw back previously-approved federal funding will have a devastating impact on people who rely on it for trusted stories that make a difference in their communities, and programming that helps educate their kids.”

The GBH creative team put the message up in the early hours of Friday, according to Goldberg.

“I think the reason it has gone viral is it is so short, three words, and it gets exactly to the point,” she said.

The sign has over 100,000 social media upvotes and was featured on CBS Morning News on Wednesday, according to Goldberg.

Approaching its 75th anniversary, GBH is “going to come out of this changed, of course, because this is a seismic event,” she said. “We will come out of this OK and strong, but there are going to be stations all over the country that could go dark.”

With the potential for stations to go under, Goldberg is concerned about the loss of children’s programming because half of U.S. children do not attend preschool and rely on local programming to learn important skills.

Prior to the approval of the funding cuts, GBH, which is the largest content provider to PBS, displayed a sign of the PBS cartoon character Arthur’s fist, with the hashtag #ProtectMyGBH, in May. 

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