Public Media Policybase

Carnegie I: Members, Preface and Introductory Note, 1967

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A 15-member commission created in 1965 by a major foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, released its report, Public Television: A Program for Action, on Jan. 26, 1967, popularizing the phrase “public television” and assisting the legislative campaign for federal aid to the field. (Public radio was added later by Congress.) See also Summary of the report’s recommendations. The commission chair, James R. Killian Jr. (1904-88) had already played a prominent public role as the first White House science advisor, 1955-57, advocating emphasis on science education, the creation of NASA and greater funding for the National Science Foundation as the Eisenhower administration responded to Washington’s post-Sputnik panic. At MIT, Killian was a former Technology Review editor and wartime R&D leader who became the school’s president, 1948-59, and chair, 1959-71.

Carnegie Commission

Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, ‘Public Television: A Program for Action,’ 1967

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A 15-member commission created in 1965 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York released its report, “Public Television: A Program for Action,” on Jan. 26, 1967, popularizing the phrase “public television” and assisting the legislative campaign for federal aid to the field. (Public radio was added later by Congress.) See also the list of commission members and the Preface and Introductory Note of the report. The report’s summary of recommendations:
A Proposal to Extend and Strengthen Educational Television: A Summary of the Commission’s Report
The Carnegie Commission on Educational Television has reached the conclusion that a well-financed and well-directed educational television system, substantially larger and far more pervasive and effective than that which now exists in the United States, must be brought into being if the full needs of the American public are to be served. This is the central conclusion of the Commission and all of its recommendations are designed accordingly.