Pubmedia mapping projects should mesh, analyst says

Public media entities need to better work together to coordinate mapping efforts, writes Jessica Clark, director of the Center for Social Media's Future of Media project, on MediaShift. One project she cited is the CPB-funded map being developed by the National Center for Media Engagement. The NCME is using Google Maps to layer common interests among funders, public media and communities. The New America Foundation also has started analyzing local media and government ecologies. And the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication is mapping ethnic media, "a crucial missing layer," as Clark says. Now, if only all of them could cooperate: "Right now, communications researchers are still asking very different questions, and attending to different priorities. Developing common questions and data collection standards will require time, effort and focused collaboration."

NPR's Schiller is keynote speaker at "Transforming Journalism" event today

NPR President Vivian Schiller will give the keynote address at today's "Transforming Journalism: The State of the News Media 2010" event. It's a followup to the new "State of the News Media 2010" report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Schiller will speak at 3 p.m. Eastern, it's streaming here. The event is co-sponsored by Pew, George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, the Newseum.

CPB news initiative announcement program now online

The big announcement of CPB's five local journalism centers last week at the Newseum is now available for online viewing. Access the archived two-hour program here.

Rifts widen, again, at KPFK in Los Angeles

What will become of Pacifica's KPFK, wracked as it is by infighting over its programming, fundraising tactics and the process of selecting a new general manager? The Los Angeles Times reports that recent program changes have helped to bolster KPFK's audience, yet the station's latest funddrive was extreme "for its great length and its embrace of the conspiracy-addled fringe." Critics of the format changes are targeting Ian Masters, a longtime host who brings a deep knowledge of foreign affairs to KPFK's airwaves on weekday evenings. Meanwhile, meetings of its Local Station Board, which must appoint a committee to lead the search for a new general manager, dissolve into shouting matches. "It's very frustrating, very frustrating," an 80-year-old KPFK stalwart tells the Times. "We won't ever make any progress until we stop this internecine fighting."

Indiana's WNIT to move from Elkhart to South Bend

WNIT in Elkhart, Ind., soon will double its space in a new location in South Bend. When it moves May 3 it'll be the first time its offices and studio are in the same building, reports the local Tribune Business Weekly. The building had been home to CBS affiliate WSBT. “Since it was an existing television station, remodeling it to become a new television station made the best use of our financial and ecological resources,” said WNIT Board Chairman Glenn Killoren. A major gift and $1 million in TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) helped with the $6.5 million renovation cost.