Indiana Public Broadcasting statewide reporting to end

(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations will be eliminating its entire statewide team of reporters and editors at the end of the year after the Indiana General Assembly defunded the organization.

“This is an incredibly difficult decision, but with the loss of state funding, individual stations have to make some very difficult decisions to address funding shortfalls and are focused on sustaining services to their local communities,” said Mark Newman, the executive director of Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, Inc.

IPBS is a nonprofit consortium of 17 public radio and television stations established in 1979. IPBS and its member stations are partners on education initiatives, civic affairs programming and public safety projects.

Indiana lawmakers in April cut the program’s $3.675 million annual funding after a lower-than-expected revenue forecast. Other programs were trimmed, but IPBS lost its entire line item.

Shortly after, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that cut all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio and member stations, alleging “bias” in the organizations’ reporting.

Outside of public dollars, stations largely rely on donations and grants.

IPBS posted a statement Tuesday with few details.

“Amid the loss of state funding and the threat of potential federal funding cuts, the Indiana’s public broadcasting stations have proposed strategic changes and reductions for the IPB News statewide reporting collaboration,” the post said.

According to IPBS, its 17 member stations serve 95% of Hoosiers, delivering critical public safety information at no charge to Indiana residents. Such local broadcasting was crucial during flooding in North Carolina when residents didn’t have access to power, with hosts using their stations to connect residents to resources.

“The state funding cuts are being felt for real. This is the impact on public services that Hoosiers depend on and care about. It’s a quality of life matter and a necessity of life matter. That’s the hand we’ve been dealt,” Newman told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

He said the organization’s focus will be to maintain their “core services,” or local content in Indiana communities.

“This is a transformative time. This is an opportunity to figure out a way to do this better, more effectively and with more impact. Focusing on how our stations operate and what we do. We intend to be here the next fifty years,” Newman said.

“Individual stations will continue to collaborate on statewide reporting relying on the deep community knowledge and on-the-ground work of local reporters who live in, listen to, and report for their own communities. This proposed approach and reorganization to the IPB News statewide reporting collaboration is an immediate consequence of state funding cuts. Specifics of the plan will be released in the near future,” the post concluded.

Indiana Public Broadcasting has an eight-person statewide team that includes education, labor, health, Statehouse and energy and environment editors and reporters.

Some recent stories include: a feature on the Indiana Court of Appeals’ program taking arguments on the road; Gov. Mike Braun celebrating improved coordination to enforce anti-abortion laws; reaction to Indiana University degree cuts; detailing a Medicaid beneficiary panel; sharing results from a youth tobacco study; and highlighting a citizenship ceremony.

Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for more than a decade and co-hosts “Indiana Week in Review” on WFYI. Other impacted reporters include: health reporter Abigail Ruhman; energy and environmental reporter Rebecca Thiele; digital editor Lauren Chapman; and labor and employment reporter Timoria Cunningham.

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