Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement yesterday (Feb. 12) on GOP budget cuts that by "putting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Pell Grants on the chopping block, Republicans are denying our youngest children and our neediest students the excellence of educational, cultural and informational resources and opportunities both in their homes and in classrooms throughout the nation."
He also said that the reductions were made "to appease demands of its extremist Tea Party caucus."
The House begins debate Tuesday on a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running that includes a proposal to zero out CPB funding by fiscal 2013.
Feb 12, 2011
House debate on Continuing Resolution – including CPB funding – set to begin Tuesday
Debate has been set to start Tuesday (Feb. 15) on H.R. 1, the Continuing Resolution (CR) that would keep the federal government running but also would slash the budget, including ending CPB funding as of fiscal 2013. The resolution also proposes eliminating FY 2011 money for the CPB Digital program, Ready to Learn, the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, the Rural Utility Service's digital work, and Radio Interconnection. "These draconian cuts will deal a devastating blow to local public television and radio stations if enacted," APTS President Patrick Butler cautioned in an e-mail to stations today (Feb. 12).
Amendments are expected to be put forward to save the pubcasting dollars. Those votes could come at any time Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, the message said.
Amendments are expected to be put forward to save the pubcasting dollars. Those votes could come at any time Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, the message said.
CPB, APTS, NPR and PBS react to House Appropriations bill to zero out pubcasting support
Public broadcasting's so-called "G4" – CPB, PBS, the Association of Public Television Stations advocacy organization and NPR – today (Feb. 12) issued comments on the formal proposal Friday by the House Appropriations Committee to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting as part of cuts in the Continuing Resolution to keep the government running.
The statement from CPB:
"Federal funding for public media is a smart and careful investment that continues to deliver proven benefits to the American people at both a local and national level. It is a successful example of a vital public-private partnership," said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB.
"We understand the challenges to our economy as a result of increasing budget deficits, but the proposed elimination of funding for [CPB] will not address this challenge in a meaningful way; it represents a disproportionate attack on public media. Further, elimination of CPB would impact millions of Americans who rely on public media for free, quality content that has a mission to educate, inform and inspire. This proposed action would directly result in cuts to the 1,300 public television and radio stations that provide this service; impact thousands of jobs in rural, suburban and urban communities throughout the country already reeling from a faltering economy; and eliminate a valued service – content that strengthens our civil society through children's and educational programming, lifelong learning for all Americans, and quality entertainment."
The statement from PBS:
“PBS and public television stations are America’s largest classroom, the nation’s largest stage for the arts and a trusted window to the world – all at the cost of about $1 per person per year,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. “Federal funding provides vital seed money for PBS’ nearly 360 member stations, which are locally owned and operated, supporting important programming and initiatives, particularly among underserved groups like rural populations who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access public media content and services.
“We understand that, in this difficult economic environment, it is appropriate for Congress to carefully examine every federal expenditure to ensure its continued value to the American public. Legislation to eliminate funding for public broadcasting overlooks the critical value that PBS member stations provide, especially to parents and their children. It’s America’s children who will feel the greatest loss, especially those who can’t attend preschool. PBS's educational media helps prepare children for success in school and opens up the world to them in an age-appropriate way.”
The statement from APTS:
"Federal funding is essential to the operations of more than 1,000 local public television and radio stations in communities across the country," said APTS President and CEO Patrick Butler. "These local stations enhance the lives of their local communities through educational programming and services in K-12 schools, GED and other lifelong learning services, job training, in-depth coverage of local issues and state legislative proceedings, music and cultural programming, emergency alert and public safety services, and trusted local news and other programming that captures the rich diversity of American life. More than 170 million Americans regularly depend on these services, and they have consistently ranked public broadcasting as the second best use of federal funds, just behind national defense.
"We fully understand that, particularly in a time of economic challenge, it is appropriate for Congress to carefully examine every federal expenditure to assure its continued value to the American taxpayer. Eliminating the investment in public broadcasting would have a microscopic effect on the federal budget deficit but a devastating impact on local communities nationwide."
The statement from NPR:
“The elimination of federal funding would be a significant blow to nearly 900 public radio stations that serve the needs of more than 38 million Americans with free over-the-air programming they can’t find anywhere else,” said NPR CEO and President Vivian Schiller. “It would diminish stations’ ability to bring high-quality local, national and international news to their communities, as well as local arts, music and cultural programming that other media don’t present. Rural and economically distressed communities could lose access to this programming altogether if their stations go dark.
“The public values and increasingly relies on the trustworthy news and information that public radio provides. The growing number of public radio listeners speaks to the hunger for independent local media sources that help make sense of what’s going on in their own community and around the world.”
The statement from CPB:
"Federal funding for public media is a smart and careful investment that continues to deliver proven benefits to the American people at both a local and national level. It is a successful example of a vital public-private partnership," said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB.
"We understand the challenges to our economy as a result of increasing budget deficits, but the proposed elimination of funding for [CPB] will not address this challenge in a meaningful way; it represents a disproportionate attack on public media. Further, elimination of CPB would impact millions of Americans who rely on public media for free, quality content that has a mission to educate, inform and inspire. This proposed action would directly result in cuts to the 1,300 public television and radio stations that provide this service; impact thousands of jobs in rural, suburban and urban communities throughout the country already reeling from a faltering economy; and eliminate a valued service – content that strengthens our civil society through children's and educational programming, lifelong learning for all Americans, and quality entertainment."
The statement from PBS:
“PBS and public television stations are America’s largest classroom, the nation’s largest stage for the arts and a trusted window to the world – all at the cost of about $1 per person per year,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. “Federal funding provides vital seed money for PBS’ nearly 360 member stations, which are locally owned and operated, supporting important programming and initiatives, particularly among underserved groups like rural populations who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access public media content and services.
“We understand that, in this difficult economic environment, it is appropriate for Congress to carefully examine every federal expenditure to ensure its continued value to the American public. Legislation to eliminate funding for public broadcasting overlooks the critical value that PBS member stations provide, especially to parents and their children. It’s America’s children who will feel the greatest loss, especially those who can’t attend preschool. PBS's educational media helps prepare children for success in school and opens up the world to them in an age-appropriate way.”
The statement from APTS:
"Federal funding is essential to the operations of more than 1,000 local public television and radio stations in communities across the country," said APTS President and CEO Patrick Butler. "These local stations enhance the lives of their local communities through educational programming and services in K-12 schools, GED and other lifelong learning services, job training, in-depth coverage of local issues and state legislative proceedings, music and cultural programming, emergency alert and public safety services, and trusted local news and other programming that captures the rich diversity of American life. More than 170 million Americans regularly depend on these services, and they have consistently ranked public broadcasting as the second best use of federal funds, just behind national defense.
"We fully understand that, particularly in a time of economic challenge, it is appropriate for Congress to carefully examine every federal expenditure to assure its continued value to the American taxpayer. Eliminating the investment in public broadcasting would have a microscopic effect on the federal budget deficit but a devastating impact on local communities nationwide."
The statement from NPR:
“The elimination of federal funding would be a significant blow to nearly 900 public radio stations that serve the needs of more than 38 million Americans with free over-the-air programming they can’t find anywhere else,” said NPR CEO and President Vivian Schiller. “It would diminish stations’ ability to bring high-quality local, national and international news to their communities, as well as local arts, music and cultural programming that other media don’t present. Rural and economically distressed communities could lose access to this programming altogether if their stations go dark.
“The public values and increasingly relies on the trustworthy news and information that public radio provides. The growing number of public radio listeners speaks to the hunger for independent local media sources that help make sense of what’s going on in their own community and around the world.”
Feb 11, 2011
Virginia Senate, House disagree on $2.7 million for public broadcasting
Virginia legislators have lots to talk about before agreeing on a budget, and that includes public broadcasting. The Senate restored $2.7 million that Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) proposed cutting from public broadcasting, while the House defeated a proposal to restore even a portion of the funding, according to the Roanoke Times.
Word World declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy
In 2005, WTTW's proposed preschool literacy show Word World was a surprise recipient of more than $7 million in Ready to Learn funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The perky program premiered on PBS in 2007, and went on to win three Emmy Awards.
On Thursday (Feb. 10), Word World LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Reuters is reporting the company has liabilities of more than $10 million, including a $3.3 million convertible note and unpaid debts to animation and production studios. It has secured lines of credit allowing it to continue operations while it restructures.
"It's the classic story of a great company with a bad balance sheet that ran out of time," said Don Moody, c.e.o. of Word World LLC.
Word World revenue comes from merchandising and licensing deals from more than 100 foreign countries where the show is aired, Moody said.
On Thursday (Feb. 10), Word World LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Reuters is reporting the company has liabilities of more than $10 million, including a $3.3 million convertible note and unpaid debts to animation and production studios. It has secured lines of credit allowing it to continue operations while it restructures.
"It's the classic story of a great company with a bad balance sheet that ran out of time," said Don Moody, c.e.o. of Word World LLC.
Word World revenue comes from merchandising and licensing deals from more than 100 foreign countries where the show is aired, Moody said.
House members ask colleagues to preserve CPB funding
Twenty members of the House of Representatives on Thursday (Feb. 10) urged their colleagues to sign a letter of support for public broadcasting funding (PDF). The letter reads in part: "We can all agree that we should right-size government spending, but we must do it in a way that doesn’t deprive citizens across the country of a fundamental way to be educated, informed and inspired. We cannot turn our backs on one of America’s most successful public-private partnerships, an indispensable service that delivers exceptional value to citizens in small towns and major cities. It is an appropriate role for our government and one that we hope you will support."
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) authored the request, and spoke up for pubcasting on the House floor today.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) authored the request, and spoke up for pubcasting on the House floor today.
MoveOn.org takes up pubcasting funding fight
The progressive website MoveOn.org has a petition on its site supporting public broadcasting as the debate on federal funding nears. From the page: "The Republicans just released their budget proposal, and it zeroes out funding for both NPR and PBS – the worst proposal in more than a decade. We need to tell Republicans that cutting off funding was unacceptable last time they were in charge, and it's unacceptable now." Signers' information is zapped directly to their Congressional reps with the message, "Congress must protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling."
Berkman's Online Media Legal Network to assist nonprofit investigative journos
The Berkman Center’s Online Media Legal Network will collaborate with the Investigative News Network (INN) to help its member nonprofit news organizations find pro bono and low-cost legal help. Based at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet Society, Online Media Legal Network is a legal assistance and referral service of more than 100 law firms, law school clinics, in-house counsel and 7,000 individual lawyers nationwide that provide free and reduced-fee legal assistance to qualifying independent journalists and journalism ventures. The INN was conceived at the 2009 investigative public media conference in Pocantico, N.Y. Its members include some of the top pubmedia news orgs, including California Watch, Center for Investigative Reporting and the Center for Public Integrity.
Feb 10, 2011
Influential pioneer of pubcasting Robert Schenkkan dies at 93
Robert F. Schenkkan, who worked with President Lyndon Johnson on the 1967 act that established CPB and was one of "the Six Pack" of early pubTV station managers who provided counsel on the membership design of the Public Broadcasting Service, died Wednesday (Feb. 9) in Austin, Texas, of complications of dementia. He was 93.
Top public broadcasters were quick to pay their respects. Jim Lehrer, anchor and editor of PBS NewsHour, told the Austin American-Statesman, “He was the first to understand the immediate meaning and ultimate importance of public broadcasting. He really got it. It was ‘educational’ TV when he started, and he realized it could be so much more. He also believed very strongly that if public broadcast was going to deal with news and public affairs, it couldn’t be seen as a political branch of government or special interest. He protected that from all who might have thought otherwise and did so stridently, eloquently and repeatedly.”
Schenkkan helped found Austin's KUT-FM in 1958, and KLRN in San Antonio in 1962. (KLRU broke from KLRN in 1987 and is now the Austin PBS affiliate.)
“Only Bob could have persuaded LBJ to see that it was a good thing for Austin to have a noncommercial television station, even though it would compete with Johnson’s own KTBC,” longtime PBS news journalist Bill Moyers told the Texas newspaper. "But Bob was a visionary in his quiet-spoken way, and he had this talent for persuading people without any histrionics – because he made such sense, was so principled and sought nothing for himself from the outcome. I’ve never known anyone more dedicated to the community’s interest. . . . And others fell behind him from sheer admiration.”
He worked with Johnson on passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In 1969, CPB's Ward Chamberlin turned to a representative group of station managers for advice on formation of PBS. The managers became known as "the Six Pack," according to The Vanishing Vision: The Inside Story of Public Television (by James Day, 1995). There was Schenkkan, James Loper, and Presley Holmes from the NET (National Educational Television) Affiliates Council; and Hartford Gunn Jr., Warren Kraetzer, and Lloyd Kaiser from the board of the Educational Television Stations group.
Schenkkan authored the influential paper, "Public Broadcasting and Journalistic Integrity: A Policy Statement of Public Broadcasting Service," in January 1971. While g.m. of WRLN, he was also the first chairman of the board of the ETS (Educational Television Stations) division of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters.
He protested to the White House in the final days of President Nixon’s presidency, as Nixon loaded the CPB board with partisan appointees who threatened to stop money for public affairs programming. “Bob really got his dander up, and thank God he did,” Lehrer said. “He was forceful, and he had credibility. He was a natural defender against the onslaught. Our defense against the Nixons of the world is that we’re instruments of nobody – not Nixon or any other administration.”
He always held firm to the belief that the educational aspect of public broadcasting was of utmost importance. As he told Current in 1993, "When you say something to that [station] board about education, everybody sits up a little straighter. . . . There is an enormous amount of concern out there about the education of children." He was one of three founding administrators of the College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin.
Schenkkan was born in New York to Dutch immigrant parents. He studied drama at the University of Virginia and earned a graduate degree from the University of North Carolina. He fought with the Navy at Guadalcanal during World War II.
While on leave from the service, he married his college sweetheart, Jean McKenzie, and the couple had four sons: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Jr.; Tex, an executive with the San Francisco firm Digidesign, which makes music hardware and software; Pete, an attorney in Austin; and Dirk, an attorney in San Francisco. Jean died in 1985. Four years later, he married Phyllis Rothgeb. She survives, along with her sons John and David, and two grandchildren – including actor Benjamin McKenzie of TV's The O.C. and Southland and the indie film Junebug.
Plans for a memorial service are pending.
For his 90th birthday in March 2007, KLRU and KUT hosted a tribute that gathered 150 friends and family members. Accolades poured in, including from Chamberlin and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow. Here's a slide show of the celebration.
Top public broadcasters were quick to pay their respects. Jim Lehrer, anchor and editor of PBS NewsHour, told the Austin American-Statesman, “He was the first to understand the immediate meaning and ultimate importance of public broadcasting. He really got it. It was ‘educational’ TV when he started, and he realized it could be so much more. He also believed very strongly that if public broadcast was going to deal with news and public affairs, it couldn’t be seen as a political branch of government or special interest. He protected that from all who might have thought otherwise and did so stridently, eloquently and repeatedly.”
Schenkkan helped found Austin's KUT-FM in 1958, and KLRN in San Antonio in 1962. (KLRU broke from KLRN in 1987 and is now the Austin PBS affiliate.)
“Only Bob could have persuaded LBJ to see that it was a good thing for Austin to have a noncommercial television station, even though it would compete with Johnson’s own KTBC,” longtime PBS news journalist Bill Moyers told the Texas newspaper. "But Bob was a visionary in his quiet-spoken way, and he had this talent for persuading people without any histrionics – because he made such sense, was so principled and sought nothing for himself from the outcome. I’ve never known anyone more dedicated to the community’s interest. . . . And others fell behind him from sheer admiration.”
He worked with Johnson on passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In 1969, CPB's Ward Chamberlin turned to a representative group of station managers for advice on formation of PBS. The managers became known as "the Six Pack," according to The Vanishing Vision: The Inside Story of Public Television (by James Day, 1995). There was Schenkkan, James Loper, and Presley Holmes from the NET (National Educational Television) Affiliates Council; and Hartford Gunn Jr., Warren Kraetzer, and Lloyd Kaiser from the board of the Educational Television Stations group.
Schenkkan authored the influential paper, "Public Broadcasting and Journalistic Integrity: A Policy Statement of Public Broadcasting Service," in January 1971. While g.m. of WRLN, he was also the first chairman of the board of the ETS (Educational Television Stations) division of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters.
He protested to the White House in the final days of President Nixon’s presidency, as Nixon loaded the CPB board with partisan appointees who threatened to stop money for public affairs programming. “Bob really got his dander up, and thank God he did,” Lehrer said. “He was forceful, and he had credibility. He was a natural defender against the onslaught. Our defense against the Nixons of the world is that we’re instruments of nobody – not Nixon or any other administration.”
He always held firm to the belief that the educational aspect of public broadcasting was of utmost importance. As he told Current in 1993, "When you say something to that [station] board about education, everybody sits up a little straighter. . . . There is an enormous amount of concern out there about the education of children." He was one of three founding administrators of the College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin.
Schenkkan was born in New York to Dutch immigrant parents. He studied drama at the University of Virginia and earned a graduate degree from the University of North Carolina. He fought with the Navy at Guadalcanal during World War II.
While on leave from the service, he married his college sweetheart, Jean McKenzie, and the couple had four sons: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Jr.; Tex, an executive with the San Francisco firm Digidesign, which makes music hardware and software; Pete, an attorney in Austin; and Dirk, an attorney in San Francisco. Jean died in 1985. Four years later, he married Phyllis Rothgeb. She survives, along with her sons John and David, and two grandchildren – including actor Benjamin McKenzie of TV's The O.C. and Southland and the indie film Junebug.
Plans for a memorial service are pending.
For his 90th birthday in March 2007, KLRU and KUT hosted a tribute that gathered 150 friends and family members. Accolades poured in, including from Chamberlin and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow. Here's a slide show of the celebration.
Advocacy journalism conference coming soon
Spaces are quickly filling for the "Advocacy Journalism in the Digital Age" conference March 1 at the Newseum. The Ford Foundation and the American University School of Communication are gathering experts in social activism, public policy and journalism to help define the opportunities and challenges created by new digital technologies. Panelists include Clark Hoyt of Bloomberg News, NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard, and Nick Clooney, director of "Journey to Darfur," tracing his trek to the war-torn country with his son, actor George Clooney. RSVP here.
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