Outlet profile

CDC Newsroom

U.S. federal government press office

Owned byU.S. federal government — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

FundingFederal appropriations (U.S. taxpayer funds) — the CDC's annual budget is set by Congress and administered through HHS

On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

The Centers for Disease Control was founded on July 1, 1946, as the Communicable Disease Center — an outgrowth of the wartime Office of Malaria Control in War Areas. Originally focused on malaria eradication in the South, the agency gradually expanded its mission to cover infectious disease, chronic illness, injury prevention, and environmental health. It was renamed the Centers for Disease Control in 1970 and added 'and Prevention' in 1992. The CDC Newsroom serves as the agency's official media hub, issuing press releases, media advisories, and transcripts. Under previous administrations it functioned as a relatively conventional government communications office, distributing scientific findings including the influential Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Beginning in early 2025, the Trump administration imposed new political oversight on CDC communications: scientists were barred from publishing certain research without executive-branch review, the MMWR was temporarily suppressed, and a new internal office was established in mid-2026 to tighten political control over scientific publications. DOGE-linked layoffs eliminated staff including CDC's FOIA office, and large volumes of public health data were removed from the CDC website. As a result, the CDC Newsroom now functions as a conduit for administration-approved public health messaging rather than an independent scientific press office.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-07-09; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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