Getler calls for more aggressive Iraq coverage

PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler proposes a new year's resolution for public TV journalists and producers of news and public affairs programs: ratchet up your "determination to challenge, to explore and to cut through spin" in coverage of the Bush administration's new strategy for Iraq.

NPR develops another morning show -- for relative youngsters

NPR announced today that it's developing a new show -- target audience, ages 25-44 -- that will compete with its own Morning Edition. The program, based at NPR's New York bureau, will air on stations (some through digital multicasts), station websites and Sirius Satellite Radio. Matt Martinez, a Weekend Edition producer, will head development, NPR spokeswoman Andi Sporkin told Current. Producers will pilot the show and seek feedback starting in September. (They will use a new piloting process called Rough Cuts, which NPR is now using to develop its second African-American news program, hosted by Michel Martin.)

'Einstein's Wife': unsung or puffed up heroine?

After an exhaustive critique of complaints about historical inaccuracies in the 2003 PBS documentary Einstein's Wife, PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler recommended that PBS "pull the plug" on the show's companion website and suspend DVD sales of the documentary, pending a scholarly review of the content. Rather than remove the website, PBS posted an editor's note [scroll down] informing visitors that web producers and outside scholars are reviewing the online content. DVDs are still for sale on Shop PBS.

Seiken succeeds Johanson at PBS

PBS hired the founding executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, Jason Seiken as senior v.p., interactive, the network announced today. He has been an AOL content executive at headquarters and in London. Cindy Johanson, who had led PBS's online efforts for more than a decade, left the network after a reorganization in June.

Profile of BBC's Katty Kay

MarketWatch's Jon Friedman profiles Katty Kay, a co-anchor on BBC World News and Washington correspondent for the British network. "Yes, BBC World reaches 281 million households worldwide," Friedman writes. "But, like soccer, the BBC remains second-string, and probably always will be, to the tradition-bound American audience."

With Congress in recess, Bush appoints Bell

With a recess appointment of Warren Bell to the CPB Board, President Bush circumvented Senate opposition to the controversial nominee, reports the Los Angeles Times. (CPB press release.)

More 'Postcards from Buster' on PBS

The New York Times reports on the return of Postcards from Buster, the PBS children's series that was "attacked by the secretary of education, pilloried by conservatives, then abandoned by its underwriters" after a 2005 episode portraying the lives of real kids with lesbian parents.

GAO reports on Smithsonian's TV deal

The Government Accountability Office concluded that the Smithsonian followed contracting guidelines in negotiating its controversial programming partnership with Showtime Networks, but the institution failed to provide sufficient information about the deal to policymakers and filmmakers. After reviewing the contract and Smithsonian internal policies, GAO investigators report that it's too early to determine whether the partnership will limit filmmakers' access to Smithsonian archives. Reporters for Associated Press (via freepress) and the Washington Post interpreted GAO's conclusions differently.

WFMU, WXXI get grants from payola fund

WXXI in Rochester, N.Y., and WFMU-FM in Jersey City, N.J., received grants from the New York State Music Fund, which was created from settlements between the state and major record labels over violations of payola laws.

WETA May Fill Classical Music Gap Left by WGMS - washingtonpost.com

WETA-FM in Washington, D.C., might return to airing classical music if the city's sole classical outlet, a commercial station, switches to sports news, reports the Washington Post. WETA abandoned classical for news/talk last year after losing audience for some time. The Post's Marc Fisher praises the potential return to classical: "Finally, the notion that public radio exists to serve the public in ways that commercial radio cannot or will not crept back to center stage." Meanwhile, pubradio consultant John Sutton calls it "a lost opportunity for all of public radio."