Michael Getler, who holds the position at the Washington Post, will become the first ombudsman for PBS. Getler worked for the Post 26 years, reporting on the Pentagon, Central Europe and London beats, then serving as foreign editor and deputy managing editor. He became executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in 1996 and returned to the Post as ombudsman in 2000. With backing from a panel of journalists, PBS decided to hire an ombudsman this summer. CPB had hired a pair of journalists for the purpose. In three months, they’ve published seven essays on CPB’s website.

There’s a LiveJournal community for public radio fans.

“I am by definition a reporter. Not an editor, not a publisher. A reporter,” says NPR Co-Managing Editor Bill Marimow in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter.

NPR has tried to make it easier for listeners to offer feedback but still has work to do, says Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin in his latest column.

“Whenever I’m not sure about something, the ethics of something, the question I ask myself is what would Murrow have done? What would Murrow say?” says NPR’s Daniel Schorr. (Via Romenesko.)

“Beyond investigations, we must lay out a program for a new governance of PBS, one that is safely shielded from partisan hatchets,” writes Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) in a Huffington Post column.

Marc Steiner has stepped down as executive v.p. for broadcast and production at WYPR-FM in Baltimore, reports the City Paper. Anonymous sources cite friction between Steiner and WYPR President Tony Brandon as one reason.

A blogger and Bob Edwards fan reports that NPR barred Daniel Schorr from appearing on Edwards’ XM Satellite Radio show.

The Third Coast International Audio Festival has announced the winners of its annual radio documentary competition (but not the particular awards they won).

City weeklies often disdain the local public TV station, but not Nashville City Paper, which commented on the departure of Steve Bass, head of WNPT: “Last week, Bass announced he will move to Oregon Public Television at the end of the year. He leaves Nashville richer for his having passed this way. . . .”

It’s time to dump CPB and create a funding system independent of politics, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) suggests. The liberal media watchdog quotes James Ledbetter: “Like a dog that has learned to flinch at the mere pantomime of its master’s lashing, public broadcasters know how to avoid topics and methods of criticism that might bring down the hand of rebuke.”

Public Radio International will distribute Here and Now, a midday news program produced by WBUR-FM in Boston. The show airs on 40 stations.

The Boston Globe profiles Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s On Point: “Fans praise Ashbrook’s interruptions, his injection of urgency, his tendency to summarize guests’ points in his own tart words. Critics grumble about those same traits, saying he steps on answers and dampens thoughts.” (Via Romenesko.)

NTIA announced $21.4 million in Public Telecommunications Facilities Program grants yesterday, more than half for public TV digital conversion. Projects will bring first public radio service to 700,000 people, NTIA estimated.

The authors head the Public Media ThinkTank at American University in Washington, D.C.  With backing from the Ford Foundation they’re working to distill the means and motives of a broader realm of public media, including public broadcasting. This is one of their first efforts. Public engagement is the semisecret success story of public broadcasting, and it shouldn’t be. The many community partnerships that flourished with public TV’s June broadcast of the special on caregiving for seniors, And Thou Shalt Honor, and the amazing insights that Story Corps brings to public radio shouldn’t be heartwarming, exceptional stories. They should be the norm.