NCME brings onboard director of television and digital media engagement

The National Center for Media Engagement has hired Jennifer MacArthur as its director of television and digital media engagement, the NCME said today (Nov. 1) in a statement. MacAurthur will work with pubTV stations, digital media organizations and content producers as they develop ways to engage communities. MacArthur's Borderline Media led outreach for the Emmy-nominated POV documentary Traces of the Trade, and has consulted on and directed other national campaigns. She also produced StoryCorps Griot, which collects and distributes oral histories of African Americans, and has worked at Link TV, Village Voice Media and Scholastic Entertainment.

NPR, Frontline receive Online Journalism Awards

NPR and Frontline scored honors at the Online Journalism Awards Oct. 29 in Washington, D.C. The Gannett Foundation Award for innovative investigative journalism, small site, went to the collaboration among ProPublica, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Frontline for "Law and Disorder," a probe into post-Katrina shootings by the police. The Gannett Foundation Award winner for technical innovation in the service of digital journalism was NPR's API, which provides a way for various computer applications to receive NPR programming (Current, July 21, 2008). And NPR.org won for outstanding use of emerging platforms for its popular mobile apps.

Public Insight Network partners with three investigative entities

The Public Insight Network is expanding with new partners ProPublica, the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Center for Public Integrity, it announced Oct. 29. The network, a creation of American Public Media in 2003 to encourage public input in the newsgathering process, announced the new collaborations at the 2010 Online News Association conference in Washington, D.C. The investigative news outlets join a growing number of organizations affiliated with the network, including WNYC in New York, the Miami Herald, Oregon Public Broadcasting and the nonprofit online St. Louis Beacon.

PBSKids.org hits No. 1 children's site for videos viewed

For the first time, PBSKids.org is the top-ranked children's site for number of videos viewed, according to comScore Video Metrix (September 2010). Viewers spent an average of 47 minutes watching nearly 88 million  free educational videos in September, PBS said in a statement today (Nov. 1). That's twice the monthly average for other top children's sites. The PBS Kids preschool and PBS Kids Go! players offer free access to more than 3,800 streaming full-length episodes and video clips. PBSKids.org attracts an average of 9.5 million unique visitors per month, with a 72 percent repeat visitor rate. Traffic has increased 28 percent over last September, according to Google Analytics.

Kerger speaks out on KCET negotiations, system reactions

TVNewsCheck's Contributing Editor P.J. Bednarski spoke at length with PBS President Paula Kerger last week about KCET's decision to drop its PBS membership in January (Current, Oct. 18). The transcript was posted Sunday (Oct. 31). Excerpts:

— Concerning the negotiations: "I don’t want you to walk away from this discussion with the idea that we took a really hard line. There were lots of other options that were put on the table that just weren’t acceptable."

— Reactions in the system: "I’ve heard from a number of stations, and I’m going out to meet with more, and basically what I have heard is consistent: The stations are supportive of the fact that we do care about equity across the system."

— Other stations following suit: "I haven’t heard from anyone saying, hey, this is a good deal, sign me up." 

— The station-PBS relationship: "This is very much a media organization. But we are not a distant parent."