CPB announced production funding today for 20 of the 35 finalists in its America at a Crossroads initiative of 9/11-related films [RFP and lists of finalists]. Washington's WETA will package eight of the 20 as a series, CPB said.

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill will change its name Feb. 17, adding the words "and National Journal." The National Journal, an elite (subscriptions cost $1,800 a year) chronicler of the federal government, may someday share stories with the PBS program but will start as a partnership in marketing and fundraising, the New York Times reported today. Two National Journal advertisers, Boeing and Chevron, will join the program.

To make up for Congress's 1 percent rescission from this year's appropriation, the CPB Board juggled its budget Friday, moving $2.8 million to the Community Service Grant pool. The money comes from the "system support" part of CPB's budget, which also assist stations, covering some satellite and copyright costs.

The Palm Beach Post reports that the Florida Board of Education wants a $1 million cut from the proposed sale of WXEL-TV/FM.

Former KCRW commentator Sandra Tsing Loh weighs in on the Chris Douridas affair: "[I]f there is a silver lining for Douridas, it's that at least Ruth Seymour is not avowing his mentally (sic) instability directly to the press, and that she does not consider him, as she did me, a public danger." (Current's coverage of Loh's 2004 firing from the station.)

PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler endorses viewers' requests that PBS return Now to its original half-hour format, and agrees that programmers should evaluate the recent spate of Christian-themed PBS programs. "Is religious content being elevated these days? If so, why is that happening?"

NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin lays bare the "dibs" system by which the network's programs claim interviews with authors and musicians. Scott Simon, host of Weekend Edition Saturday, argues that the setup is unfair to weekly shows such as his.

Former Pacifica host Marc Cooper delivers a tirade against his former employer and points out that Greg Guma, recently hired as the network's executive director, has endorsed arguments that the widely accepted account of what happened on 9/11 is untrue. "Look forward, if you can, to more programming and fund-raising that would be better suited for a UFO cult than for a serious or credible political and cultural opposition," Cooper writes. Meanwhile, the g.m. of Pacifica's KPFA-FM in Berkeley has resigned. In a letter on KPFA's website, he says, "This past year has provided me with a memorable introduction to KPFA/Pacifica's complex and challenging environment." (Coverage in the Berkeley Daily Planet.)

Showtime has ordered six episodes of a television version of public radio's This American Life to air this fall at the earliest. The new gig doesn't endanger the radio version of TAL, promises Ira Glass, host and e.p. The show's website features a brief announcement of the news.

The Boston Globe profiles Gather.com, the blogging and social-networking website backed by the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio. "We think of Gather as doing for user-driven content what eBay did for user-driven retail," says Gather founder Tom Gerace. "Today, the problem in the blogosphere is finding what you want." The startup announced last week that it received another $6 million in equity financing, some from Southern California Public Radio, a sibling to MPR.