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The Star-Telegram analyzes the press tour spin on why PBS gave a new show to CNN host Tucker Carlson. (Registration required.)
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McSweeney’s presents “My Son’s Appearance on Fresh Air”. It’s good to know the specialized field of public radio satire is finding a ready outlet.
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Susan Clampitt, former g.m. of WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C., has filed a $12 million lawsuit against American University over her dismissal, reports the Washington Times (second item). Clampitt came under fire for alleged problems of overspending and low morale at the station, as Current reported last year.
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Tim Goodman, the TV critic who described PBS as the “worst-run media company in the world,” reflects on what it’s like to meet face-to-face with the media executives he lambasts in the San Francisco Chronicle. (PBS responded to Goodman’s “vitriol” in a letter to the editor published in May.)
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Nashville Public Television recently severed all ties to the Metro Public Schools that once held its license, but it faces a $1.1 million shortfall with the end of local subsidies, reports the Tennessean. NPT looks to replace the public monies with datacasting revenues.
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In the Chicago Sun-Times, public radio bigshots including Terry Gross, Ira Glass and Larry Josephson weigh in on the appeal of Howard Stern.
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The Washington Post’s Lisa de Moraes pokes fun at PBS President Pat Mitchell’s explanation of why Tucker Carlson deserves a show on PBS (scroll down). But other TV critics loved it when Carlson, appearing at the TCA summer press tour, ripped Fox’s Bill O’Reilly. “Tucker Carlson is funny, disarming, charming even,” opines a critic for the Times-Picayune.
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Jeff Smith, enthusiastic host of The Frugal Gourmet, died at age 65, reports the Seattle Times. Once one of public TV’s most popular talents, Smith’s broadcast career ended after a sex scandal.
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“Having now been bleeped, I can only say that it doesn’t feel very good. It feels kind of dirty.” Richard Dreyfuss, star of a new PBS police drama that was edited for naughty words, lambasted the FCC’s crackdown on broadcast indecency and its chilling effects on speech and creativity. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Tim Goodman reports on the controversy and why PBS is in no position to challenge the FCC.
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NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin looks at perceived contradictions in the network’s reporting — including use of the terms “terrorist” and “militant,” a dilemma which has dogged NPR (and other news outlets) before.
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Broadcasters commenting on the FCC’s proposed rules for digital radio have generally asked for loose restrictions and freedom to apportion digital bandwidth as they see fit, according to a Radio Magazine summary.