Nonprofit news heads pleased with Comcast-NBC deal to provide partnerships; PEG channels also spared

It's official: As part of the Comcast-NBC merger approved yesterday (Jan. 18), some NBC stations will enter into cooperative arrangements with locally focused nonprofit news organizations, as Comcast had promised in December. By next January, at least five of the 10 owned-and-operated NBC stations will have inked cooperative arrangements with locally focused nonprofit news orgs, to be known as Online News Partners, that will provide reporting on issues of concern to each station’s market or region . On Jim Romenesko's Poynter blog today, several heads of nonprof journalism ventures say this will validate their efforts, and, they hope, prompt more funding. The FCC said in a release that Comcast has voluntarily agreed to "safeguard the continued accessibility and signal quality of PEG [public, educational and governmental] channels on its cable television systems and introduce new on demand and online platforms for PEG content." That's a big victory for public access channels, which have been struggling to remain operating in recent years as local cable funding contracts expired.

NPR's mistake causes real pain, loss of trust

Tucson-based NPR correspondent Ted Robbins and Scott Simon, host of Weekend Edition Saturday, recall their reactions to erroneous NPR newscasts reporting the death of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Jan. 8. Both NPR journalists heard directly from friends and family members of the Arizona lawmaker, they tell Ombudsman Alicia Shepard, and had to explain on what basis NPR was reporting her death. The newscasts were based on inadequate sourcing; both Robbins and Simon testify to the "real, excruciating pain" caused by the mistake.

When he learned the report was wrong, Simon called the Giffords family member who reached out to him. “But I made no attempt to defend NPR,” he tells Shepard. “Someone believed for a moment that she had died. In fact, more than one person did. The mistake NPR made was reprehensible.

New Hampshire Public TV faces total state funding cut

New Hampshire Public Television's funding will be debated Wednesday (Jan. 19) in a legislative hearing, the Foster's Daily Democrat reports. A bill has been introduced that would ban the state's university system from using state money to fund public TV. NHPTV President Peter Frid said 31 percent of its $8.8 million budget comes to it via that funding. Without that state support, Frid said, it would be impossible for the channel to function.

Berkman Center to examine mobile giving in first-ever study

The impact of digital tools on charitable giving and the outlook for future mobile giving will be studied by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, it announced today (Jan. 18). The research, the first of its kind, will survey persons who gave to Haiti earthquake relief efforts to determine how mobile donors differ from general donors. It also will examine how social media spread the mobile-giving campaigns. Partners in the study are the mGive Foundation and the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project; it's supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Current reported on the mobile donation efforts of public broadcasters, which so far is limited (March 22, 2010) but holds potential (April 19, 2010).

Access channel advocacy group announces website

Public access channels nationwide are intensifying their ongoing fight to stay on the air with today's (Jan. 18) launch of a new website from the Public Television Industry Corporation. The channels across the country are being threatened with shutdowns as longtime funding contracts expire. The site links to a 10-minute video that says public access TV is "being murdered by a cabal of cable and telecom industries."

"Marmalade Gypsy" looks back at NETA

Here are some cool photos from the NETA convention, and a little wrapup, from the Marmalade Gypsy blogger. One of the pics captures two Current staffers, reporter Dru Sefton (on the right, with the scarf) and Kathleen Unwin, marketing director, at Lucky Table 13. Give yourself extra points if you can figure out the identity of the writer, an anonymous pubcaster. (Hints: Jeanie in Michigan.)

More on PBS member stations and Tucson memorial coverage

David Brauer, local media reporter for MinnPost, complains in a column today (Jan. 17) that Twin Cities Public Television viewers weren't given the opportunity to see the Jan. 12 memorial service for the recent Tucson shootings.TPT spokesperson Lorena Duarte said the station was told that commercial networks would cover the entire service – which they didn't, opting instead to only run President Obama's remarks. "We also received word from PBS that they would not be providing coverage of the memorial event," Duarte said. "This changed late in the afternoon, which would have made it very difficult for us to put it on [main channel] TPT 2 (and at that point we still thought the networks would be carrying it)." PBS told Michael Getler, the PBS ombudsman, that "member stations had the option of carrying the Tucson memorial ... in its entirety."

WAMU-FM to drop Capitol News Connection for its own Hill coverage

WAMU-FM will not renew its contract with Capitol News Connection when it expires April 30, the Washington Post is reporting today (Jan. 17). The Post had written last fall (Current, Sept. 9, 2010) that CNC is owned by the wife of one of the station's top managers, which presented a potential conflict of interest at the pubradio station. CNC's Power Breakfast and This Week in Congress have aired on WAMU since late 2007, and the production company also provides spot news coverage of Capitol Hill activities.

In a Jan. 14 e-mail to staff, station News Director Jim Asendio said WAMU's newsroom is now sufficiently staffed to provide that coverage in-house. He did not cite the controversy. But CNC founder and owner Melinda Wittstock, wife of WAMU programmer Mark McDonald, told the newspaper that its contract discussions with WAMU are continuing, so comment would be inappropriate. "We hope to find a way forward," she added.

KCET's board chairman says break from PBS is a suspension; it's willing to return to membership

In an interview in today's (Jan. 17) Broadcasting & Cable, KCET Board Chairman Gordon Bava insists the station has not "terminated" its relationship with PBS, but "we have suspended it indefinitely. We aren’t sure PBS is willing to accept that distinction, but that is our express intention. So that when the dust settles and we see maybe in a couple of years what the future of PBS holds and its role will be, we certainly would be open to returning on a reasonable and sustainable basis."

He also calls the system of PBS member stations "vulnerable" since it has been losing money for years. Also, if government funding dried up, "I think that the system would be reduced by at least half. I think a lot of those stations would probably go out of business."

Broadcasting authority approves $3.4 million, three-month budget for NJN

The newly convened New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority last Friday (Jan. 14) okayed a three-month budget of $3.4 million to preserve New Jersey Network, according to the Star-Ledger. That figure includes $2.1 million in new state aid and $1.3 million in lottery revenue and current leases. Authority Chairman and State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff said he expects the state to have a partner secured by April 1 to run the network, which the governor is attempting to wean from state support (Current, July 6, 2010). The Treasurer's office has hired Public Radio Capital to help draft a request for proposals for the operation of the network’s television and radio stations. No decisions have been made about whether to separate the radio and television operations, or give the entire network to a partner.