By Joanna Kail, CEO of Wyoming PBS
As the CEO of Wyoming PBS, I’ve spent years hearing directly from our viewers - not about the programming we create here in Wyoming, which reflects our state’s values, but about the national content PBS chooses to distribute.
It’s important to understand that PBS is not a traditional television network. It doesn’t own or control local stations. It was created to serve independent public television stations by distributing content and offering shared services. That mission has strayed.
In recent years, PBS has increasingly acted like a network, speaking on behalf of its member stations and making decisions as if it represents a single voice. But not all stations agree. Local stations like ours have had little say in how national decisions affect the communities we serve.
That disconnect led to real consequences. The rescission bill passed by Congress, cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reflects the trust PBS lost with millions of Americans. It didn’t have to end this way.
PBS does not produce most of its own programming. Most content is created by local stations and independent producers. Much of it is educational, inspiring, and apolitical.
But PBS’s unwillingness to confront growing concerns about ideological bias created a perception that it no longer served the public equally. Viewers walked away, unsure if PBS was still for them.
When PBS stopped listening, viewers stopped watching. And when it acted as though it knew better than the people it was meant to serve, those people pushed back - not out of disinterest, but out of frustration. They didn’t walk away because they stopped caring. They did so because they no longer felt heard.
Warnings were clear. Stations raised concerns. Viewers spoke up. Yet national leadership failed to respond. PBS could have led with humility, defending its mission while showing a willingness to adapt. It could have accepted a modest cut to protect local stations. Instead, it stood firm - and the system paid the price.
Local stations were left without a voice in Washington. Decisions made at the national level rippled across the country, and Wyoming PBS was left answering for choices we didn’t make. Through it all, we remained focused on our mission: to educate, inform, and reflect the people we serve.
I deeply respect our Wyoming delegation. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, Senator Cynthia Lummis, and Representative Harriet Hageman have long supported the award‑winning storytelling produced by Wyoming PBS.
They voted for the bill after years of seeking accountability that never came. They didn’t abandon public broadcasting. They acted with integrity on behalf of constituents who no longer felt heard by PBS.
We could have avoided this moment if PBS had truly listened.
As Wyoming’s late Senator Alan K. Simpson once observed, “Those who travel the high road of humility are not troubled by heavy traffic.” Integrity means listening, adapting, and sometimes sacrificing for the greater good. Instead, PBS chose silence - and now that silence threatens the future of public broadcasting.
Still, Wyomingites know how to face challenges and keep moving forward. Living on the final frontier of America has always required grit and determination.
We’ve navigated tough terrain before - economic, political, and cultural - and we will again. Wyoming PBS is strong, resilient, and grounded in the communities we serve.
While we don’t yet know exactly how this loss of federal funding will affect our system, our mission remains unchanged.
Wyoming PBS will continue producing award‑winning local stories, sharing trusted educational content, delivering lifesaving emergency alerts, and providing essential public service across the state.
The future may be uncertain, but one thing is not: Wyoming PBS will always stand with and for Wyoming.
