A study in contrasts: National Review Online and the New York Times review “Waging a Living,” Roger Weisberg’s P.O.V. film about the working poor.

The task force charting a digital rights acquisition strategy for public TV posted a summary of its conclusions on the Affinity Group Coalition’s website.

After the flap about misleading on-screen identification of “conservative commentator” Karen Czarnecki, Ombudsman Michael Getler and his readers offer PBS and producers of To the Contrary a few pointers on Journalism 101.

The ongoing auction of reclaimed government spectrum for wireless services has shown the licenses to be even more valuable than some predicted, reports Broadcasting & Cable. With 1,004 of 1,122 licenses sold to high bidders such as Verizon and T-Mobile, the government has gained more than $13.4 billion for the treasury. An auction of reclaimed analog broadcast spectrum will happen in 2008.

A former California Republican party official sees an “Orange County scandal” in a state legislature bill favoring pubTV station KOCE, which would “cheat” taxpayers and benefit the interests of the station’s wealthy board members by allowing a community college district to sell the station to a nonprofit operator rather than accept the high bid of a religious broadcaster. The bill [text in PDF] would create an exception to state surplus-property law. The community college district is appealing the May court decision that voided the station’s sale to a new pubTV licensee.

Consultant Fred Jacobs urges his audience of commercial radio execs to pay attention to public radio’s success: “How is Public Radio pulling this off – without marketing, without Harley giveaways, and without two guys in the morning talking about Mel Gibson? They’re about quality programming and a value system that comes through loud and clear day in and day out.”

If you wanted some archival news, which would you buy? A video clip from ABC News @ $1.99 or an article from the New York Times archive @ $3.95? Noted in AdWeek and a World Association of Newspapers blog.

Helen Mirren won a Primetime Emmy for her performance in Elizabeth I, an HBO/Channel 4 drama that also received the statuette for outstanding miniseries. Barry Manilow was PBS’s winner in last night’s live Emmy telecast, winning for his performance in a fundraising program.

The New York Times reports on a lawsuit filed last week that seeks to protect the First Amendment right to publish online parodies of Barney, the PBS Kids character that some adults love to hate.

Some children’s and consumer advocates aren’t happy about PBS’s plan to add banner ads to PBSKids.org beginning Oct. 1, reports the Los Angeles Times. “Children are basically inundated with marketing and the PBS website was in some ways a sanctuary,” said Susan Linn, a psychologist and co-founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in Boston. “This is just one more step in the commercialization of PBS and children’s programming.” Said a PBS spokesman: “This is going to be very smart and respectful, and anything that will appear online will be in the spirit of what is on PBS on air.”

Alaska Public Media is laying off seven workers to offset a growing deficit, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The network’s president attributes the shortfall to declining state support and rising costs in programming and other areas. Alaska Public Media operates the Alaska Public Radio Network and TV and radio stations in Anchorage.

WQED-FM in Pittsburgh is reducing the chatter during its classical music programming and making its selections more accessible to casual listeners, reports the city’s Post-Gazette. “We’ve recommitted to the classical music format — and to make sure every show we offer is speaking in a contemporary, welcoming, down-to-earth voice,” says Susan Lyons, executive director.

Ira Flatow, host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation Science Friday, discussed media coverage of science at a biotech conference in Denver Wednesday. Check out the anecdote from Flatow’s days at CBS: “You want me to wear a white lab coat, don’t you?” Flatow has started a nonprofit, TalkingScience, to draw more attention to developments in science.

A Washington Jewish Week profile of NPR’s Daniel Schorr features details about Schorr’s early days rarely reported in other write-ups. “In preparation for his 1929 bar mitzvah ceremony, Schorr went to a local cheder (Jewish primary school) where his Hebrew prowess earned him a gold watch and a train ride to Philadelphia,” writes Paula Amann.

The audience for WVXU-FM in Cincinnati grew 20 percent over the last year since the station was acquired by Cincinnati Public Radio and went all-news, reports the city’s Post. “I think our success will probably be a blueprint for … other markets,” says CPR president Rich Eiswerth. CPR’s WGUC-FM, which became all classical, saw no audience growth. Meanwhile, KAZU-FM in Pacific Grove, Calif., has attracted more listeners since an all-news switch, reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel, while community station KUSP-FM has lost some listeners and missed fundraising goals in recent years.