Guest opinion: MontanaPBS guided by Montana viewers

In recent weeks with news reports about turmoil at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and with federal funding for public broadcasting uncertain in Congress, many of our viewers and members have questioned who has influence over MontanaPBS public television. The answer is simple: you.

Public television – like all public institutions – is meant to be a service to our community. And it is the community that informs the programming choices we make and the outreach programs in which we participate. MontanaPBS is locally owned. The two stations that make up MontanaPBS, KUSM in Bozeman and KUFM in Missoula, are licensed to Montana State University and the University of Montana, respectively. Our programming decisions are local. In addition to the shows we produce ourselves, MontanaPBS purchases programs from PBS, but also from a number of other sources. None of these sources dictate which programs we run or when we should run them. All these decisions are made by our program director in Bozeman, whose choices are informed by our viewers and our mission.

By JACK HYYPPA and WILLIAM MARCUS

Full Opinion: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/07/03/build/opinion/40-guest-opinion.inc