Wyoming Public Media backers urge congressional delegation to defend funding
FROM WYOFILE:
After judge affirmed public broadcasting’s independence from Trump, battle over $1.1B funding clawback heads to the Senate.
After a judge on June 8 affirmed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s independence, a funding fight with President Donald Trump is now beginning in the Senate, where $1.1 billion in broadcasting appropriations are on the line.
Because Wyoming Public Media is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization’s supporters are urging Wyoming’s congressional delegation to vote against an effort to claw back funds.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is preparing to debate the administration’s plan to take back CPB money and another $8.2 billion in already appropriated funds, perhaps as soon as Wednesday. Congress funded CPB, which distributes grants to independent public broadcasters and National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, with $1.1 billion through the end of September 2027.
Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman has voted for a rescissions bill to take back the money. Wyoming Public Media backers recently urged U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both Republicans, to vote against the rescission and preserve federal funding for public radio and television broadcasting in Wyoming and nationwide.
“We recognize that you and others may not agree with some National Public Radio programming,” Casper’s Maggi Murdock, chair of the Wyoming Public Media Public Advisory Council, wrote to the senators. “[B]ut we hope you will have the foresight and thoughtful care for the many Wyoming residents who rely on Wyoming Public Media as one of their vital sources of information and as a foundation for a statewide community.”
Murdock’s fellow board members also signed the letter. Barrasso and Lummis appear unmoved.
“I am troubled by the recent trend of publicly funded media promoting political agendas,” Lummis wrote in response Wednesday, according to a copy of her letter posted by Wyoming Public Media. Lummis added that she was “working with my colleagues on ways that we can hold public media accountable.”
“Hard-earned taxpayer dollars should not be spent promoting far-left climate policies or woke agendas,” Barrasso replied.
Respect for listeners
General Manager Christina Kuzmych said 50,000 people listen to Wyoming Public Media each week. The radio station, like more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations across the country, receives CPB support. It also subscribes to NPR, another recipient of the corporation’s grants, for news programs.
“WPM respects the work our legislators perform as they serve the many interests of Wyoming voters,” she said in a statement. Yet listeners deserve respect too, she said.
“They bring many diverse viewpoints to their listening experience, and they deserve strong public broadcasting that is free from political influence,” Kuzmych wrote.
A judge affirmed that independence after the CPB board, chaired by Ruby Calvert, a retired 35-plus-year veteran of Wyoming Public Broadcasting in Riverton, sued Trump and his administration in April. The administration had emailed three CPB board members saying they were fired, leading the congressionally funded, independent organization to defend itself in court.
Trump himself characterized federally funded public media as “trash,” “madness,” “biased,” “radical” and “woke propaganda disguised as news.”
CPB sought a preliminary injunction to prevent Trump from dismantling the organization, which Congress designed to be free from political meddling. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss on June 8 denied the corporation’s request for a preliminary injunction, saying in essence that it could continue to operate despite the administration’s attacks. But Moss certified CPB’s independence.
“Congress intended to preclude the President (or any subordinate officials acting at his direction) from directing, supervising, or controlling the Corporation,” Moss wrote. The judge was open to CPB “renewing their motion should Defendants [Trump and those acting in concert with him] take steps to interfere in the independence of the Corporation.”
With that decision, Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the corporation, affirmed that the three targeted board members are still governing.
“Laura G. Ross, Thomas E. Rothman, and Diane Kaplan, are, remain, and shall continue to be directors of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” according to a CPB statement.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
This story was posted on June 20, 2025.