System/Policy
NPR CEO warns of ‘hostile environment’ ahead for journalism, scrutiny of pubmedia
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“We should be well prepared at every moment to talk with enthusiasm about the purpose and value of public media,” CEO Katherine Maher said.
Current (https://current.org/current-mentioned-sources/sara-robertson/page/575/)
“We should be well prepared at every moment to talk with enthusiasm about the purpose and value of public media,” CEO Katherine Maher said.
A declining rate of growth among Passport users is exposing cracks in new donor programs at TV and joint licensees.
The only misstep the Vermont Public Television Board made regarding more than 20 closed meetings was not providing follow-ups as to why those conversations were not open, the board said at its meeting today.
Public radio leaders are discussing how and whether NPR can give stations more freedom to reuse its newsmagazine segments and more opportunities to insert local news into All Things Considered.
Moss Bresnahan, former president of KCTS in Seattle, is one of three finalists for the position of executive director and general manager of KBTC Public Television in Tacoma, Wash., according to licensee Bates Technical College. The three were interviewed Jan. 24 for the post. Bresnahan exited KCTS in August 2013, citing family issues in an email to fellow executives. The two other finalists are Karen Olstad, chief operating officer of WOSU Public Media in Columbus, Ohio; and Ed Ulman, development director and interim g.m. of KBTC.
A new study from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center finds that while 2- to 4-year-olds spend 78 percent of their screen-media time with educational content, that figure drops to 39 percent among 5- to 7-year-olds and to 27 percent for 8- to 10-year-olds. The research, “Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America,” also found that children spend an average of 42 minutes a day watching educational television compared with five minutes each day with educational content on mobile devices and computers and just three minutes per day with educational video games. The children of parents surveyed also read an average of 40 minutes per day, which includes 29 minutes with print, eight minutes on computers, and five minutes using e-readers and tablets. The national survey of more than 1,500 parents is part of the center’s Families and Media Project.
Two high-profile public broadcasting personalities recently landed on late-night television. In case you missed their appearances, here is PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan on The Daily Show, and Frontline’s David Fanning on The Colbert Report.
An anonymous complaint to the CPB Inspector General’s office has exposed a deep and ongoing rift between Vermont Public Television and its board.
Larry Monroe, a longtime DJ with Austin’s KUT-FM, died Jan. 17 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 71.
Most nationally distributed public TV series are docile and dull. The system could learn much from the bold, daring AJAM.
Disasters strike every year in every corner of America. Hurricanes on the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard, ice storms in the Midwest and Plains states, wildfires in the west and arid states of the southwest, tornados through our nation’s heartlands and flooding along the Mississippi and elsewhere. And horrific acts of terrorism like the Boston Marathon, the Oklahoma City federal building bombings and the attacks on September 11th are all too familiar reminders of just how important information is during and after these events. During every hurricane, tornado, flood and wildfire, local public radio stations play an essential role in conveying information about response efforts, local relief supplies, evacuation orders, emergency routes, and where to find food, shelter and fuel, as well as on-the-ground, at-the-scene reporting to help affected communities understand and respond. Because of public radio’s role as a trusted media and information resource and an essential public-safety asset, we hope all stations will join us in calling upon the mobile phone industry to install and activate FM chips in all cellphones and smartphones.
NPR has promoted Gemma Hooley to v.p. for member partnership, succeeding Joyce MacDonald, who has been assigned new responsibilities in sponsorship and marketing. Hooley previously served as senior director of member partnership. She joined NPR in 2000 as a program services associate and later worked as manager of station relations. MacDonald retains her title as NPR chief of staff while taking on management of NPR’s relationship with National Public Media, the sponsorship sales group that provides marketing and distribution services for public radio and television. NPM President Steve Moss will report directly to MacDonald.