Indiana Public Media will lay off four full-time and 14 part-time employees, Executive Director of Integrated Public Media Mike Arnold announced Thursday morning via email, citing state and federal government funding cuts and the dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
"Like many public media organizations across the country, we are facing a significant financial challenge that requires us to adjust how we operate for long-term sustainability,” Arnold wrote.
Arnold said in the announcement that IPM had been working to reduce costs before Thursday’s email. Full-time staff have already been notified of the eliminations; some part-time notifications may continue through the end of the week, Arnold wrote.
IPM does not plan additional full-time layoffs, he said in the email, though some structural and role adjustments will continue. He added that the changes are intended to preserve IPM’s core services.
“Looking ahead, these changes allow us to focus resources on the areas that matter most to our audience, including local news, arts and culture and community engagement,” Arnold wrote. “Our core mission remains unchanged, and we expect audiences will continue to experience the same essential services without major disruption.”
The cuts come as IPM, which operates WFIU Public Radio and WTIU Public Television out of Indiana University Bloomington, faces multiple funding challenges.
In April 2025, the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1001, the state’s new two-year budget, which excluded $3.675 million in annual funding for Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, a network of 17 stations serving 95% of Hoosiers.
According to former WFIU/WTIU interim executive director Jay Kincaid, the stations stand to lose about $450,000 per year in state funding alone — separate from the federal cuts to come.
In May 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14290, directing the CPB, a non-profit which stewards federal funding to public television and radio stations across the country, to cease all funding to NPR and PBS.
The CPB got $535 million annually, of which over 70% goes directly to local radio and TV stations. For WTIU and WFIU, these funds accounted for about 14% of the combined budget.
In July 2025, Congress passed the Rescissions Act of 2025, eliminating $1.1 billion in CPB federal funding for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. The CPB announced it would begin winding down operations shortly after, with its board voting to officially end operations on Jan. 5, 2026.
For Indiana’s 17 stations, the federal cuts totaled up to $13 million, according to Mark Newman with Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations. For IPM specifically, the act eliminated $1,326,662 in federal funding, about 11.2% of its budget, according to WFYI.
The Media School, which houses IPM, also addressed cuts in a Thursday email to the Indiana Daily Student.
“We recognize the impact of these decisions, especially on the colleagues who have contributed so much to our work,” the statement read. “These were difficult choices, made after careful consideration of how to ensure Indiana Public Media remains strong and sustainable for the long term.”
In an interview with the Indiana Daily Student, Arnold said all affected employees were notified individually and given at least two months' noticebefore the changes take effect July 15.
He said outsourcing IPM’s master control room, which manages the TV channel’s broadcast, is one of the larger cost-cutting decisions made, though master control staff may continue working into August during the transition.
Arnold expressed confidence in the station’s path forward, pointing to increased listener support and potential foundation funding as new revenue sources.
“The mission and the need continues to exist, and we’re going to do everything we can to support it,” Arnold said. “Public media had to be pretty resilient over the years, so we feel pretty confident there’s a strong future ahead for us.”
