Vermont PTV’s Ann Curran describes the art of pledge programming to a Burlington Free Press writer who can’t tell the difference between Suze Orman and Christiane Northrup.

Leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with public TV executives on Tuesday to discuss their concerns about the absence of Latino-American veterans in The War, Ken Burns’ 14-hour World War II documentary series slated for a PBS debut in September. Lawmakers may try to restrict pubTV’s federal funding if PBS doesn’t address their concerns, according to Politico, a newspaper and website covering the Washington, D.C., political scene. “The bottom line is we also have the right to do what we can economically with PBS to show our displeasure,” said Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas). “I hope it won’t come to that.”

The MacArthur Foundation named Chicago’s Kartemquin Films, a frequent pubTV producer, as one of this year’s eight recipients of its MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The Chronicle of Philanthropy profiles Kartemquin, headed by co-founder Gordon Quinn. The company is known for Hoop Dreams, Refrigerator Mothers and the series The New Americans, among other social documentaries.

TV writers at the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times agree: tonight’s two-hour PBS documentary The Boomer Century is a tiresome rehash.

Nuestra Familia/Our Family, a Center for Investigative Reporting doc for public TV about the Latino gang that grew in California’s agricultural valleys, received an IRE Medal and the Tom Renner Award for crime reporting from Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc., IRE announced Monday. The award credits producer/director Oriana Zill de Granados, Julia Reynolds and George Sanchez of CIR. CPB and Latino Public Broadcasting were among the funders. [Program website.] The doc premiered last year on KQED and aired nationally last fall as part of Latino Public Broadcasting’s Voces series, distributed by American Public Television. The film was edited by David Ritscher, who is also production coordinator for Frontline/World.

The FCC released details yesterday about the settlement of 76 groups of mutually exclusive applications for new full-power noncommercial educational stations. (PDFs of order, attachment.) Universities affiliated with Iowa Public Radio are in line to receive a total of seven construction permits. Other current operators of public radio stations who prevailed include Spokane Public Radio, the University of Wyoming, Temple University and the University of Massachusetts. Unsuccessful applicants: Jefferson Public Radio, Kentucky’s Murray State University and WSKG in Binghamton, N.Y. The commission also announced plans to open a filing window for new noncoms in October.

Dan Savage erupts over a Garrison Keillor column about modern families and gay parenting. “These couples deserve our gratitude and support,” Savage writes. “What they don’t deserve is a rich, old hypocrite insinuating that they’re more interested in their fussy hairdos and over-decorated apartments than they are in raising their kids.”

“All I’m saying is, if PBS has to tart itself up as something it’s not in order to attract donors, isn’t that a de facto admission that their regular schedule isn’t enough of a draw to justify their existence?” A Huffington Post column by Eric Williams drew nearly two dozen comments from blog readers eager to rip up public TV pledge programs.

“Years will pass before another program poses a serious challenge to this landmark,” writes Tom Shales, Washington Post TV critic, in a review of Planet Earth, an 11-part BBC series that debuted last night on Discovery.

March spreads a special strain of madness among PBS viewers.

Paste magazine looks at Bob Boilen and his show, NPR’s web-only All Songs Considered: “What is a fresh sound? Who the heck knows? But I look for something that has a vitality, that has a sense of creativity to it, maybe that’s breaking new bounds—or something that just feels great.”

The New York Times previews the TV debut of This American Life: “Mr. Glass was greeted as a conquering rock star in various American cities during a recent live tour, and Showtime is hoping that the rabid, embedded fan base of “This American Life” — as well as the tsunami of media coverage generated by reporters who love to write about someone who actually tells real, live stories — will give it visibility in a cluttered television universe.”

NPR, Clear Channel and other broadcasting groups filed challenges yesterday to the Copyright Royalty Board’s ruling on webcast fees, reports AP. NPR also plans to take the matter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C.

Assignment Zero, a web-powered collaboration between citizen and professional journalists, recently began assigning stories to volunteer reporters, according to the New York Times.

PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler reports and comments on criticism that The War, the Ken Burns documentary series debuting in September, ignores the contributions and sacrifices made by Hispanic-Americans during World War II. “[W]hat interests me most among the critical public statements, and the questions and criticisms raised by viewers in letters to me, is whether, during the six years of production, anyone did actually think about the Hispanic veterans,” Getler writes.