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Apr 29, 2003

The Jewish Action Taskforce has rescheduled protests against NPR's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They will take place at NPR's D.C. headquarters and at member stations May 14.
The Miami Herald has agreed to produce news segments for the city's WLRN-FM, reports the Herald.
"What he reminds me of is that quirky, kind of odd friend you had in high school but never wanted to admit you knew," says a This American Life fan of host Ira Glass, in a St. Paul Pioneer Press article. "But now you think, 'Gee, I wish I had gotten to know him better.' "
Police arrested Minnesota Public Radio talk show host Katherine Lanpher April 12 on suspicion of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident, report local media.
The FCC has given public TV stations an extra six months to simulcast half of their analog programming on their digital channels. The original deadline for the 50 percent simulcast requirement was May 1.

Apr 28, 2003

Tom Shales blasts commercial coverage of the Iraqi war while praising PBS's Bill Moyers and NPR's Bob Edwards in his TelevisionWeek column.
Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen talks with The Rake. "[W]hen I hear Ira Glass at public radio conventions sort of light into the audience saying, 'You've become conservative, you accept mediocrity,' I say hear, hear," he says.

Apr 23, 2003

NPR's Carl Kasell will marry psychotherapist Mary Ann Foster May 24, reports the Washington Post. Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! host Peter Sagal will officiate. (Last item.)
NPR's Anne Garrels tells colleague Susan Stamberg that, after Iraq, she might not cover another war. "I can't do it to my husband again," she says. (Via Romenesko.)

Apr 22, 2003

Amy Goodman in Newsday on her work as host of Democracy Now!: "I have what most journalists look for -- independence."
NPR's Bob Edwards shared some forthright opinions with a Kentucky audience earlier this month. "The rise of cable TV and the Internet were supposed to democratize the media and give us many voices and numerous points of view," he said. "Instead, market forces and deregulation have clobbered diversity."
All Things Considered host Michele Norris tells Journalismjobs.com that producing the show each day "is a miracle on the order of loaves and fishes."

Apr 21, 2003

NPR's Steve Inskeep tells The Washington Post Magazine about his experiences covering war. "I miss going to Fresh Fields and buying cat food," he confides.
WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill and a local group of critics recently met to discuss the station's news fare, which came under fire for being too Establishment and dependent on NPR. "Most of the crowd characterized the network as not merely stuck inside the box, but as being the box," writes The Independent Weekly.

Apr 18, 2003

Burnie Clark, president of Seattle's KCTS for 16 years, resigned abruptly Thursday, before publication of a Seattle Times series on problems at the station. The Times reported that KCTS owes $2.8 million in back payments to PBS and $229,000 in rent to the city. Eleven staffers were laid off and more than 20 may follow. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said the station declined to renew the contract of production chief David Rabinovitch last week. Current reported earlier that KCTS had run deficits for six of the past seven years.

Apr 17, 2003

The Poynter Institute profiles Michele Norris, new host of NPR's All Things Considered.

Apr 16, 2003

Looks like Christopher Lydon's running a weblog.
The NewsHour Extra website practices a "new hybrid online genre" that combines daily journalism with lesson plans, reports the New York Times.

Apr 14, 2003

Embedding "has been a public relations bonanza for the military," says NPR host Bob Edwards, who shared other criticisms of the media with an audience in Kentucky, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Apr 11, 2003

"Where should journalists draw a line separating news from opinion? Throughout much of Fox, the question never arises." Howard Rosenberg reviews the Fox News Channel's war coverage in the LA Times.

Apr 10, 2003

The contract for Mark Keefe, program manager of WNCW-FM in Spindale, N.C., will not be renewed after expiring June 30, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. But Keefe told Triplearadio.com that "the report was premature." WNCW recently faced FCC scrutiny over fundraising practices. [An earlier version of this post misrepresented the Citizen-Times article.]
The FCC released a Report and Order today explaining how it will handle situations in which commercial and non-commercial broadcasters compete for non-reserved spectrum. Report and Order: PDF, Word, text. Concurring statement by Commissioner Michael Copps: PDF, Word, text. News release: PDF, Word, text.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer profiles ideastream, the merger of local public stations WVIZ-TV and WCPN-FM.

Apr 8, 2003

Educational TV can't exist without marketing tie-ins, but some toys teach better than others, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
The American Journalism Review profiles Jefferson Public Radio, an extensive regional network based in Ashland, Ore. "It's the tie that binds the region together," says a former news director.
New media staffers at Boston's WBUR-FM have created a weblog devoted to the war against Iraq.
Chicago police believe that Fe Corizon Cruz-Fabunan, the retired WTTW finance manager accused of embezzling $260,000 from the station, is on the lam, reports Chicago Business.
John Willis, WGBH's new national production chief, is returning to the U.K. to direct BBC's Factual and Learning programs, reports the Guardian. In a February speech to documentarians, he said an "infection of entertainment" dilutes news programs in the U.S.
Sesame Street launches its 34th season on PBS today. The long-running series is as "creative and vibrant as ever," writes Lynne Heffley in an LA Times review. Heffley also reviews three new preschool shows debuting today on Noggin, Nickelodeon's digital channel of kiddie edutaiment.
The New York Times reports on how war coverage has altered the TV habits of viewers in Millville, N.J.

Apr 7, 2003

Corey Flintoff name-checked in the Apr. 5 Zippy comic strip.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Lloyd Sachs praises NPR's Anne Garrels, one of the few American journalists still in Baghdad. "There may be no one on the air who better conveys the difficult mood swings that this kind of assignment can produce, or its utter lack of glamor," he writes. (Via Romenesko.)
"The spirit of documentary filmmaking is thriving, but it is against the odds that you will make money doing it," comments filmmaker Thom Powers, in an LA Times feature about the financial struggles of documentarians. Powers' film "Guns and Mothers," about women who lost sons to gun violence, airs on PBS's Independent Lens in May.

Apr 3, 2003

Public television and radio producers won 11 of this year's George Foster Peabody Awards.
In tonight's Frontline documentary, "Blair's War," the British Prime Minister "comes across as a valiant lead guitarist who struggles to keep two intransigent divas from destroying a long and highly successful collaboration," writes New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley.