Public funding cuts cause layoffs at PBS Michiana, now reliant solely on 'viewers like you'

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Indiana NPR and PBS stations, including PBS Michiana (WNIT), got a one-two punch this year, losing state and federal dollars. And now ABC57 has learned how it's impacting WNIT: a staff of 27 is down to 22 this week, and the future of local programming is less certain.

Amanda Miller Kelley, just months on the job as president and general manager of PBS Michiana, explained to ABC57's Annie Kate the hard decision to cut staff.

"I was sitting as a general manager, who, in the first seven months of working here in this role, has lost a third of our budget. And it has just been a fight every day," she said.

Five employees were laid off-- four of them full-time-- and two others saw a "significant" reduction in hours.

"It was incredibly difficult to say, 'It's not because of your talent,'" Kelley said. "It is gutting, and it is breaking us down at the knees."

Tuesday's announcement comes after Indiana Governor Mike Braun's administration pulled all state public media funding from the budget in April. Then, the federal government under President Trump cut all federal public media funding in July, eventually causing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down.

"We're doing everything we can to have as minimal an impact on our viewers and our members as possible, but it can't be silent," Kelley said.

WNIT lost $1.3 million in annual funding, about a third of its total budget.

"We're worried, right, if some of the programs and things will change," said Sam Centellas, WNIT's "Education Counts" host. "WNIT is an ingrained part of this community."

Changes to local programming are still unknown at this time; WNIT is still scrambling to reconfigure its finances, according to Kelley.

"I think the idea that government, or taxpayer money, would somehow control what stories are told is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way that public television works," said Elizabeth Bennion, WNIT's "Politically Speaking" host.

"There's been an argument that public broadcasting has not been independent media because of the support of federal funds," Kelley said. "Federal funds have actually allowed public media to remain independent."

Independent from the whims of corporate interest, Kelley said.

"You see it every time you watch, 'This has been brought to you by viewers like you,'" she said. "Truly, now more than ever, that is true, because all of our external funding, be it from the state or the federal government, is gone."

"People grew up hearing that, right, 'supported by viewers like you,' and so now we need viewers like you more than ever," said Centelles.

Kelley said she doesn't anticipate more layoffs to follow this wave, but they must lean on community support more than ever. Learn more on WNIT's website.