Survey for CPB: Have some journalists working there?

CPB has ordered up a headcount of journalists working at both public TV and radio stations to serve as a baseline for monitoring future employment levels. Station execs will receive questionnaires later this month from a team of consultants working with Public Radio News Directors Inc., hired by CPB to handle the survey. PRNDI hired Michael Marcotte, Ken Mills and Steve Martin to do the survey, working with a research adviser, Hofstra University media-industry scholar Robert Papper. To induce replies by the survey deadline of Aug. 6, the team will give respondents a shot at winning a highly tactile new iPad touch-screen tablet.

NPR vies for coveted seat in White House briefing room

Former White House Correspondent Helen Thomas's front-row seat in the press briefing room is up for grabs and NPR wants it. In a July 14 letter to the White House Correspondents Association board of directors, NPR Managing Editor David Sweeney makes his case: "Our audience size, national and international reach, presence at the daily briefings, regular service in the radio pool rotation and on White House travel . . . all testify to our place among the premier news organizations covering the White House." [Full text here.] Fox News and Bloomburg also are vying for the seat. NPR Correspondent Don Gonyea, a WHCA board member, recently told Poynter.org why the seat is so coveted by reporters covering the White House. "That seat is in the front row right under the press secretary's, and sometimes the president's, nose."

Bill would give broadcasters some spectrum auction cash, set annual fees on existing use

Under legislation introduced Monday (July 19) in the Senate, broadcasters would share in the proceeds of a spectrum auction, according to TVNewsCheck. In the Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act, put forward by Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the Federal Communications Commission would determine how auction proceeds would be allocated between license holders and the government. The legislation would also authorize the Commerce Department to set annual fees on existing spectrum users based "on the fair market commercial value of that spectrum" as determined by the FCC. The government sees the auction as a way to clear spectrum space needed for the increasing number of wireless devices (Current, Feb. 8, 2010). The FCC's National Broadband Plan recommended the auction money be used to create a public media trust fund; however, the White House signaled in June that it would prefer spectrum cash go to public safety, infrastructure job creation and deficit reduction.

PBS's Kerger to chair November International Emmy Awards

PBS President Paula Kerger is gala chair for this November's International Emmy Awards Nov. 22 in New York City, reports WorldScreen.com. The 38th annual awards presented by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honor work in 10 categories.