What came between NPR and Tavis Smiley? Howard Kurtz reports in the Washington Post that a letter from Smiley's agent demanded that the network commit $3 million to promote the weekday talk show. Smiley quit in December, hurling accusations of racism. The host also wanted to own the program and tape it a day before broadcast, NPR reportedly told Kurtz.

Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman are among new commentators on PBS's Now series, the producers announced. Also civil rights attorney Constance Rice and former Maine Gov. Angus King.

Martin Scorsese, producer of a four-hour portrait of Bob Dylan to air in the PBS series American Masters in July, never met the guy, he told the Toronto Sun.