Quick Takes
Wall Street Journal interviews Ken Stern
The Wall Street Journal asks NPR CEO Ken Stern whether the network’s new morning show and online music service will undercut Morning ...CPB’s Islamists alert gets a slot on Fox News
Fox News Channel will air the CPB-funded doc Islam vs. Islamists on Saturday (9 p.m. Eastern time), with wraparound material in PBS style, Fox ...Founding producer of American Experience dies
Judy Critchton, the founding executive producer of American Experience, died Oct. 14 at age 77, the New York Times reported. She succumbed to complications of leukemia. ...South Carolina ETC invites Colbert to announce presidential bid
After Stephen Colbert announced last week on CNN’s Larry King that he might be running for president (on Republican and Democratic tickets), ...Catholic school rejects Planned Parenthood aid to WDUQ-FM
Pittsburgh’s WDUQ-FM stopped running underwriting credits for Planned Parenthood (essentially, ceased accepting donations from an abortion-rights advocate) on orders from its licensee, ...Pick 10: FCC limits applications for new noncommercial FM licenses
During its Oct. 12-19 filing window for new noncommercial FM stations, the Federal Communications Commission will allow single entities to file no ...New-media exec is NPR’s new COO
NPR’s new chief operating officer is Mitch Praver, a new-media exec with top-level experience at National Geographic and Discovery Communications. He’ll take ...Self-censorship on your local station
A New York Times editorial on broadcasters’ growing tendency to self-censor points to weak-kneed decisions by public broadcasters: WBAI’s retreat from ...Legal battle over a media brand we like too
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Minnesota Public Radio is suing a Christian rock station in Virginia Beach over its use of the name ...KPBS is imbalanced, says city attorney
San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre concluded in an Oct. 3 report (PDF) that the city’s KPBS-FM/TV is violating PBS’s balance and ...New Frontline lineup
Frontline announced its new fall lineup on PBS, beginning Oct. 16 with “Cheney’s Law.” Other doc subjects: America’s relationship with Iran, the ...Fearing FCC fines, Pacifica’s WBAI puts “Howl Against Censorship” online
A measure of how far the cultural battle over broadcast indecency has shifted: New York’s WBAI, the Pacifica station that successfully challenged ...NPR explains Bush decision, scolds Williams
In a follow-up to another mini-flap involving NPR’s Juan Williams, someone at the network leaked an internal memo (via mediabistro.com) from news ...NPR’s Juan Williams under fire for defending Bill O’Reilly
NPR’s Juan Williams has been sucked into the media feud over Bill O’Reilly’s racial awareness. Bloggers for Media Matters and the Nation ...Swann sees intensifying HD competition
HD will be the battle cry for cable nets and competing satellite TV operators during the next year, said Phillip Swann of ...
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