System/Policy

Pubcasters can follow example of Texas Tribune, says editor-in-chief

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ADDISON, Texas — More than one-third of the roughly 300 attendees at the annual National Educational Telecommunications Association’s professional development conference this week are first-timers, making for one of the most crowded Newcomers Welcome sessions in years. And those newbies have plenty of sessions to choose from at the conference, which runs through Wednesday at the Hotel InterContinental in this Dallas suburb. Topics include development, collaborations, marketing, community engagement, FCC regulations, education, promotion — one session even analyzes the “complex, arcane” structure of the public broadcasting system. The conference opened Monday with keynote speaker Evan Smith, editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune, addressing the power of public conversation. The nonprofit newsroom in Austin, which celebrates its fifth anniversary in two weeks, was “invented more or less on the fly,” Smith said, as newspapers in the state withered.

Maryland Public Television

Success in sharing arts content inspires new programming co-ops for public TV

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Public TV stations are starting two new programming co-ops modeled after the Arts and Culture Major Market Group project, which gathers and repackages local content for more than 30 stations nationwide. WNET, which handles the arts project, now has producers compiling station contributions for a new technology initiative as well. The local segments feed into SciTech Now, a half-hour newsmagazine hosted by PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan that premiered Oct. 1 in New York, Houston and Seattle. Another program-sharing pilot aiming for small and midsize stations, based at Maryland Public Television, draws from the popular genre of outdoors shows.

Programs/Content

This American Life story prompts $5M lawsuit over 1994 false confession

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A This American Life story may help a woman prove that Washington, D.C., police violated her civil rights when a detective obtained a false confession from her 18 years ago. Kim Crafton filed a lawsuit Sept. 3 against the Washington Metropolitan Police over the 1994 incident, which became the subject of an October 2013 TAL story. The report featured D.C. Officer James Trainum, who had interrogated Crafton, discussing what led to the false confession in her case. In February 1994, Crafton, who was 19 at the time, confessed to killing D.C. resident Lawrence O’Connell.

Quick Takes

NPR, WAMU limit use of Washington football team’s name

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An NPR editor has recommended that network journalists avoid referring to the Washington Redskins by their name and should instead use “Washington” or “the team” as much as possible. Standards & Practices Editor Mark Memmott provided the guidance Oct. 10 amid a growing backlash against a name that is a racial slur. Memmott said he is not calling for an outright ban, but that use of the name should be curtailed under the organization’s policy regarding potentially offensive language. “The team’s name is the name and our job is to report on the world as it is, not to take a position or become part of the story,” Memmott wrote.

Programs/Content

NPR podcast on Latino culture crosses over to radio

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An NPR podcast hatched from a friendship four years ago took a step in its evolution earlier this month, becoming a weekly radio show focused on Latino music and culture. Edited down from the weekly podcast’s 40 minutes, the half-hour Alt.Latino debuted Oct. 2 and is airing on stations in four markets, including Denver and San Francisco. The “alt” in the title refers to the show’s exploration of subjects that co-host and co-creator Jasmine Garsd sees as underreported by other media outlets. “We started off with a lot of indie music, but as the show grew we saw it more as delving deeper into Latin culture,” Garsd said.

Quick Takes

Public TV freelancers in Writers Guild approve contract extension

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More than 200 members of the Writers Guild of America who work as freelancers in public TV have ratified a two-year extension of their current contract, which includes raises in salary minimums and additional pension contributions from WGBH in Boston and WNET in New York. The guild represents members working on national programs including Frontline, American Experience, Nova, American Masters, Nature and Great Performances. After four months of negotiations, members unanimously approved the extension Tuesday. It provides a 2 percent raise in minimum salaries retroactive to July 1, which increases to 2.5 percent July 1, 2015. Employers also will contribute an additional .5 percent to the Producer-Writers Guild of America pension plan.

System/Policy

KET debate proceeds without Libertarian candidate who challenged exclusion

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When Kentucky Tonight host Bill Goodman introduced U.S. Senate candidates on the air the evening of Oct. 13, one was missing: Libertarian David Patterson, whose name will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot in Kentucky. Just 48 hours before, a federal judge in Frankfort rejected Patterson’s argument that Kentucky Educational Television violated his First Amendment rights by denying his request to be included in the broadcast. Patterson, along with the state and national Libertarian parties, contended that KET kept him off the program due to his political viewpoint.

System/Policy

Judge denies Libertarian candidate’s request to appear on KET program

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A federal judge has rejected an argument that Kentucky Educational Television violated a Libertarian candidate’s First Amendment rights by denying his request to be included in a broadcast featuring two U.S. Senate candidates. David Patterson, along with the state and national Libertarian parties, sued for his inclusion in Monday’s Kentucky Tonight show, where incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader, and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky secretary of state, will appear. Patterson is the only other candidate whose name will be on the Nov. 6 ballot. KET Executive Director Shae Hopkins praised the ruling, announced Saturday.

System/Policy

Wilson in farewell to NPR: “Thank you for the best six years of my life”

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Kinsey Wilson, NPR’s outgoing chief content officer, sent this farewell email to NPR staff Friday. When I arrived at NPR six years ago, my wife remarked that it was as if I’d finally come home. Here was a place where the journalism I valued was deeply embedded in the culture. And where it was clear that curiosity, innovation and risk-taking could flourish. It was like having the New York Philharmonic and Miles under the same roof.