Public access channels and public broadcasting need to collaborate, and soon. So writes Colin Rhinesmith, community media and tech manager for Cambridge Community Television in Massachusetts. He admits there’s a huge cultural gap: Most pubcasters, he says, are dismissive of the so-called PEG (public educational governmental) channels; pubaccess advocates think pubTV doesn’t represent the public. However, PEGs “are trusted institutions in many local communities. They are uniquely positioned to serve youth, seniors, poor people, immigrant communities, communities of color, and other historically disenfranchised groups with access to media and digital literacy training. They should receive public support to do so …” He says many of those centers are launching citizen journalism projects, which mesh nicely with pubcasting’s news push.

NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard applied a different lens to recent complaints about the lack of diversity of NPR’s programming–the presence of women as commentators and news sources–and was discouraged by what she found. Males dominated the roster of regular commentators across all NPR newsmagazines across a 15-month period and comprised 74 percent of the news sources quoted on the air, according to a content analysis conducted by her staff from April 13, 2009 to Jan. 9, 2010. Morning Edition cohost Steve Inskeep challenges the study’s methodology in Shepard’s column about her findings. Shepard’s objective wasn’t to produce a scientifically rigorous analysis, she writes: “My goal is to get NPR journalists to think more seriously about integrating female sources into stories and work harder at getting them on shows.

WGBH isn’t publicly confirming anything, but the TG Daily news site is hinting the station may be a part of the MIT Media Lab’s latest project. Surround Vision allows hand-held device users to actually see the action happening off the edge of the screen — say, point the cellphone to the left and see what’s happening over there, beyond the original frame of view. WGBH has “a long history” with the Media Lab in the past, the site points out, and could be assisting with user studies on this project. “We always learn from working with [research scientist Michael Bove] and his group,” Annie Valva, WGBH’s director of technology and interactive multimedia, told the site.

The latest Mailbag of PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler is full of letters about programs or segments on Buddhism, Mormon theology and Catholicism.

Public television stations will be protected from involuntary reallocation of broadcast spectrum during the possible upcoming auction, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reassured a House broadband plan oversight hearing yesterday. Broadcasting & Cable reports that the statement was in response to Democratic California Rep. Anna Eshoo (above), who voiced concern over what she termed “a treasure” that needs protection. The FCC’s National Broadband Plan calls for 120 MHz of television spectrum to be reallocated to make way for the increasing needs of mobile devices (Current, Feb. 8). It also proposes a public media trust fund fed by proceeds to pubcasters for their spectrum.

WTMD Radio has withdrawn its proposal to renovate, manage and occupy Baltimore’s historic Senator Theater. A top administrator at Towson University, licensee of the public radio music outlet, explains on the station’s website: “Due to the continuing economic pressures faced by the State of Maryland and thus Towson, we have determined that it is best not to take on this new complex venture. With the added uncertainty of the economic climate that we will face the remainder of this year, we must concentrate on the needs of our students at this time.” G.M. Steve Yasko tells station supporters: “I want you to know that WTMD and everyone at Towson University fully believes in the station’s mission, music and the need to find a new home for the station.”

NPR has recruited Sandra Bartlett, a veteran CBC Radio journalist, for its new investigative reporting unit. She joins her former CBC colleague Susanne Reber, NPR deputy managing editor for investigations since January, who announced the hire today in a memo to staff. “Sandra has worked in radio news and documentary production for more than two decades and has been an instructor and mentor of investigative journalism programs at CBC Radio, where she was part of the Investigative unit,” Reber writes. Bartlett reported daily news and produced documentaries while on several foreign assignments. She also started a new radio production, World This Weekend, a half-hour news show that she founded and directed.

Angela Morgenstern, longtime senior director of PBS Interactive, has departed for Current TV, aka “Al Gore’s network” (Wikipedia), according to several sources. She’ll have the title of vice president of content. Previous to her PBS post she claimed several awards for her development of the Frontline website, and was an online producer/content developer at KQED in San Francisco. Before her pubmedia career she helped launch MTV News.

Jake Shapiro, executive director of Public Radio Exchange, responds to some criticisms of the PRX distribution system in the latest edition of AIRblast, which recently published a two-part guide to pubradio program distributors by indie producer Barrett Golding. In the latest installment, producers questioned PRX’s decisions over which programs merit heavy promotion; Golding also suggested that talks between PRX and the Public Radio Satellite System’s ContentDepot might eventually lead to a partnership between the two services. In his response on PRX.org, Shapiro describes the conversation as one-way. “Over the past five years–starting before the launch of ContentDepot–PRX has repeatedly and unsuccessfully proposed working with PRSS on integrating our systems, sharing code and standards, and other collaborative ideas….We

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that Democratic Michigan Rep. John Dingell has sent the FCC commissioners letters asking for clarification of the National Broadband Plan with respect to several issues, including public broadcasting. The former House Energy and Commerce Committee chair wants to know if spectrum give-back will remain voluntary even if the goal of 120 MHz is not achieved; if the FCC would involuntarily reallocate noncom spectrum from stations decline to participate (Current, Feb. 8, 2010); and if the FCC have to propose amendments to the Public Broadcasting Act. In the letters Dingell said he would like answers by April 16.

Oregon Public Broadcasting is a partner in a $554,000 project funded by the National Science Foundation for a three-year computer science camp for middle-school girls, according to the organizer, Pacific University. The camp, dubbed Girls Gather for Computer Science (G2CS), will provide mentors, field trips and beach housing. The funding also goes toward tracking the participants for a decade. A total of 90 girls will attend starting next year. OPB will create video profiles of women computer scientists and interactive games.

Three public broadcasters will head to USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism in Los Angeles next month as part of the annual National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater, the school announced this week. Attending will be: Ian Buckwalter, a theater critic on NPR.org; Elizabeth Kramer, arts and humanities reporter, Louisville Public Media in Kentucky; and Emiko Tamagawa, associate producer, WBUR’s “Here and Now,” Boston. Participants will engage in writing workshops and individual master classes May 17-27.

Pubcasting show Saddle Up With Dennis Brouse is caught up in a tax-credit controversy, reports the DesMoines Register. The director of the state film office, which lures film and TV productions companies to Iowa to generate revenue, was fired last September. He’s charged with official misconduct and goes on trial Friday. The state wants to hold him responsible for approving what the attorney general’s office calls “blatantly false, fraudulent and exaggerated” claims for state tax breaks. The newspaper obtained documents detailing the projects involved, which include Saddle Up. The paper reports that Brouse’s show was awarded the most tax credits of any production in the past two years, some $9.3 million.

Amid all the buzz over the launch of Apple’s iPad last weekend, the free app and specialized website that NPR created for the device are getting lots of attention–and generating lots of downloads. Some 30,000 proud new iPad owners downloaded the NPR app on Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Apple says it sold more than 300,000 iPads as of Saturday, which means about one of every 10 iPad buyers on day one downloaded the NPR app,” the Journal reports. “We’re excited about this latest innovation because we think it brings us closer to capturing NPR’s unique identity on a digital platform,” blogs Kinsey Wilson, senior v.p.

Round 15 is now open for Digital Distribution Fund grants from CPB. Funding for television transmission facilities, digital translator projects and digital centralcasting projects is available. Stations should note that CPB is now accepting applications only for centralcast master controls that serve more than one station (Current, March 1, 2010).