Development
Planet Money crowdfunder soars, PRI campaign falls short of goal
|
Two of public radio’s three biggest distributors launched major crowdfunding experiments in the past month, with wildly different results.
System/Policy
CPTV’s mobile venture to share revenues with PTV outlets
|
Connecticut Public Television has joined with a digital media company in rolling out a new mobile platform that will offer digital downloads of children’s programs.
People
Merrill Brockway, Emmy-winning Dance in America producer, dead at 90
|
Merrill Brockway, a producer and director of several PBS arts programs who was best known for his work on the Great Performances spinoff Dance in America, died May 3 in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 90. Brockway was born in Indiana and began a career as a piano teacher and accompanist before entering TV at the age of 30. He wrote and directed for CBS affiliates in Philadelphia and New York before leaving commercial TV for PBS in 1975, when Dance in America launched. He worked on the program, produced by New York’s Thirteen/WNET, from 1975–88, capturing some of America’s most renowned dancers and choreographers on film. Dance in America spotlighted the work of Martha Graham, Thyla Tharp, and the New York City Ballet as choreographed by George Ballanchine, among many others.
People
George Walker, ATC anchor for West Virginia network, dies at 60
|
George Walker, the host of local broadcasts of All Things Considered on West Virginia Public Radio for nearly 12 years, was found dead in his Charleston home over the weekend, local authorities announced May 6. Details of his death are awaiting an autopsy. He was 60. Walker joined WVPR in 2002 as a part-time announcer. In addition to hosting ATC, he produced the station’s weekly program Music from the Mountains until host Joe Dobbs retired in 2008.
Programs/Content
PRI stations to experiment with locally customized news
|
The competition for midday timeslots on public radio stations is heating up, as Public Radio International and producers of its news programs unveiled plans to experiment with new approaches for combining national and local content to give stations more control over what their local listeners hear during the middle of each weekday.
System/Policy
Obama nominates former PBS board member Tom Wheeler to head FCC
|
President Obama has nominated cable and wireless lobbyist Tom Wheeler, a former member of the PBS Board, to chair the Federal Communications Commission.
Programs/Content
Planet Money launches Kickstarter campaign for T-shirt reporting project
|
NPR launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign backing a special investigative project by Planet Money, its reporting unit that produces multi-platform economics coverage.
System/Policy
Nine GOP House members express support for federal aid to CPB, PTFP
|
In the past week, members of Congress have sent two bipartisan letters in support of public broadcasting initiatives to subcommittee chairs in advance of the next round of budget proposals.
Quick Takes
Tippett to take On Being into independent production
|
On Being, a weekly pubradio program about religion and faith, is creating a production house for the show that will exist offsite from its distributor, American Public Media. The transition is happening with the assistance of APM, which will continue to distribute the show at its regular times.
People
Mhari Saito, award-winning reporter for Cleveland’s ideastream, dies at 41
|
Mhari Saito, a reporter for Cleveland’s ideastream, died April 15 from a long battle with gastric cancer. She was 41. Saito began her career as an NPR stringer in Cambodia in the late ’90s before becoming an urban-affairs reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia. She moved to Cleveland with her family in 2003 and began working for ideastream in August 2005. While at ideastream, Saito reported on various topics, including the housing market, and contributed lighthearted local features.
Programs/Content
PRI launches crowdfunding campaign to fund global stories, entice new donors
|
A crowdfunding campaign launched April 15 by Public Radio International seeks $25,000 for a “Global Stories Fund” that will support 11 international stories to be presented on PRI’s The World and other news programs.
Quick Takes
Columbia Journalism Review profiles Texas Tribune
|
The Texas Tribune, the nonprofit public policy journalism website that recently received a $1.5 million Knight Foundation grant, is the subject of an extensive piece published April 15 in the Columbia Journalism Review.
CPB
Ready to Learn builds on digital-learning push with new station grants
|
The Ready to Learn program backing educational media and outreach for children ages 2 to 8 is making digital learning through community engagement a priority, a change that will affect which stations participate in the program.
Programs/Content
NPR website, Twitter accounts hacked by Syrian counter-revolutionary group
|
Late at night on April 15, NPR.org and several NPR-affiliated Twitter feeds were hacked into by an online Syrian counter-revolutionary movement, which vandalized the homepage and posted fake articles in protest of the network’s ongoing coverage of the Syrian civil war.
People
Jane Henson, puppeteer and philanthropist
|
Jane Nebel Henson, a puppeteer and philanthropist who was the widow of Jim Henson and founder of The Jim Henson Legacy, died in her Connecticut home April 2 after a long battle with cancer. She was 79.
Quick Takes
Nonprofit environmental journalism site InsideClimate News wins Pulitzer
|
InsideClimate News, the Brooklyn-based nonprofit environmental journalism outlet, won a 2013 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. The award was announced by the Pulitzer Committee April 15.
People
Kathleen Megargee, pubTV journalist
|
Kathleen Megargee, a freelance television journalist who hosted programs on Pittsburgh’s WQED and the former New Jersey Network, died March 23 from natural causes at her home in Bensalem, Penn. She was 58.
Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation announces $1.5 million grant to news nonprofit Texas Tribune
|
The Texas Tribune, an online news nonprofit that produces in-depth stories about Texas government and policy, received $1.5 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation April 14 to explore new revenue models for local journalism.
People
Rick Roberts, former manager of KTSU
|
Rick Roberts, general manager of Houston’s KTSU until his retirement in 1995, died March 21 from complications from a stroke after he was reportedly assaulted in his home. He was 72.
System/Policy
Obama would maintain CPB funding, eliminate rural digital grants in 2014 budget proposal
|
President Obama released his fiscal 2014 federal budget proposal April 10, and recommended $445 million in two-year advance funding for CPB. This is a level amount compared to previous federal funding levels for CPB.