Maxie Jackson will head NFCB starting in January

Maxie C. Jackson will become president of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters in January. He succeeds Carol Pierson, who is retiring after 12 years as head of NFCB. Jackson is now senior director, program development, for WNYC in New York, where he has worked on the launch of the morning news program The Takeaway, on program planning and audience development. He previously served as p.d. for WETA-FM in Washington and acting g.m. of WEAA in Baltimore. He is a member of the board of the Development Exchange and Eastern Region Public Media and former board member of the African American Public Radio Consortium.

Donor backs new MPR fund for enterprise newsgathering

An anonymous donor is providing a $5 million challenge grant backing the Minnesota Public Radio Enterprise News Fund, a "permanent fund for significant enterprise news gathering," announced MPR President Bill Kling during MPR's Future of News Summit. The summit, convened at MPR headquarters this morning, is examining new models for local and regional news. An afternoon panel on the role of daily newspapers and online start-ups that are helping to fill gaps in local news coverage, is about to begin. Watch and participate online here.

Kentucky pubTV at top of list of agencies immune to state budget cuts

Kentucky's budget director warned several state last agencies Friday to plan for a possible 6 percent spending cut, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. But topping a list of those exempt from the reductions is Kentucky Educational Television. Others are public universities, K-12 schools, prosecutors, public defenders, Medicaid and mental health services. KET Executive Director Mac Wall told Current that its position on the list makes the point that if a station invests in local services such as education, its value to the community "goes up dramatically." Its EncycloMedia site for teachers and students just surpassed five million hits since 2005, Wall noted.

Detroit Public Television is top nonprof in city, business paper says

Detroit Public Television is the Best-Managed Nonprofit in that city, as chosen by Crain's Detroit Business. The publication cites DPT's programming shift to five areas "critical to the region," children/education, arts/culture, energy/environment, health/safety and jobs/leadership -- while reducing its operational costs by $2.4 million. “With the way the media landscape has changed over the last few years, there's more and more of a need for a station committed to public engagement and (local) public information,” Rich Homberg, president and general manager, told the paper. The station also closed out a $22 million capital campaign and brought in more than $1 million in new funding.

ASNE focuses on new media ethics

The American Society of News Editors is conducting a public discussion on news ethics in the evolving media ecosystem during its conference this week, "Journalism Ethics: Public Trust Through Public Engagement." Topics include: Differences in how citizens and journalists view journalism values; when anyone can be a publisher, what distinguishes a journalist?; and new ways of partnering with the public. Some 25 editors, scholars, students and members of the public will interact at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism starting at 10 a.m. today. Follow along on the website's streaming video, or on Twitter at hashtag #TalkEthics.