The cancellation of the GOP presidential debate set for Monday at Oregon Public Broadcasting may have disappointed a lot of people, but the writers at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart saw it as an opportunity for a wacky segment playing up Portland’s offbeat reputation. Earlier this week, OPB President Steve Bass heard from the show, which originally wanted to cover the debate. But after the event was canceled on Thursday, they still wanted to come — to use the studio set for a segment. What they were planning “actually sounded pretty funny,” Bass said. The concept: Portland was so disappointed that the event wasn’t happening that a Make-a-Wish Foundation-style organization comes in to grant the city’s wish for a debate.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the sale of WMFE-TV in Orlando, in the works for more than a year, has been canceled. “Due to the protracted approval process at the FCC and changes within the broadcast market, WMFE has voluntarily opted out of its current proposed deal to sell WMFE-TV to Community Educators of Orlando, Inc.,” WMFE President Jose Fajardo said in an email to the paper. “WMFE is currently pursuing new options that will prove to be more beneficial to WMFE and to the Central Florida community.” The pending sale, to a local group representing religious broadcaster Daystar, created a scramble for a new primary in the Orlando market last spring (Current, April 18, 2011).

Kartemquin Films, a nonprofit Chicago production company that’s home to such films as The Interrupters and Hoop Dreams, is asking independent filmmakers and pubmedia fans to sign an open letter to PBS protesting the network’s decision to move indie showcases Independent Lens and P.O.V. from their longtime Tuesday night spot to Thursdays, often used by stations for local programming (Current, March 12, 2012). The letter says that independent films “serve a critical function in the public broadcasting ecology. They serve the democratic mission of public broadcasting.” “Public television is not just a popularity contest, or a ratings game,” it says.

This American Life retracted “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,” its Jan. 6 broadcast that adapted theater monologist Mike Daisey’s stage play about working conditions in Apple manufacturing plants in China. “Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast,” said TAL host and creator Ira Glass, in a statement. “That doesn’t excuse the fact that we never should’ve put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake.” When adapting Daisey’s play, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” for broadcast on TAL, producers attempted to confirm key elements of the story, but Daisey refused to provide contact information for the interpreter who helped him research the piece.

The PBS miniseries Women, War and Peace is one of seven programs receiving Television Academy Honors. The awards were established by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to recognize “Television with a Conscience,” the programming that inspires, informs, motivates and has the power to change lives. In the announcement, the Academy said that the five-part Women, War and Peace “challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are a man’s domain. Women embroiled in the midst of today’s conflicts bring viewers inside their lives, forever changing the way we look at war.” The programs were produced by Thirteen and Fork Films in association with WNET and ITVS.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/matc-board-shakeup-could-jeopardize-license-for-public-tv-0m4jfnr-142894555.htmlThe entire membership of the MATC Board would turn over almost immediately under the proposal, a move that would jeopardize MATC’s license for its public television station http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/matc-board-shakeup-could-jeopardize-license-for-public-tv-0m4jeoi-142871005.html

WNET/Thirteen’s two-day Celebration of Teaching & Learning kicks off today (March 16) in New York City. Some 10,000 educators are expected to participate. It’s the seventh annual event, which this year expands into a global conference, with officials, advocates and experts from around the world tackling pressing issues surrounding education.

Dennis Brouse, host of the pubTV show Saddle Up with Dennis Brouse, was convicted of fraudulent practices in Polk County, Iowa, on Thursday (March 15), in connection with a state filmmaking tax-incentive program, according to the Des Moines Register. Brouse, who had been charged in January, also was acquitted on charges of theft and ongoing criminal conduct. Brouse’s Changing Horses Productions had been awarded $9.27 million in tax credits for five projects, but a state audit last year reportedly found discrepancies including $2.18 million in expenditures claimed by Changing Horses paid to companies outside Iowa, which wasn’t allowed, and $1 million in expenses not supported by documentation.

John Barth, managing director of the Public Radio Exchange, dropped in on Marfa Public Radio in Marfa, Texas, and wrote an account of his visit for the PRX blog. The station proved to be a lifeline for listeners after wildfires swept the area last year. Now it’s looking to expand its service vastly as it starts a station in Odessa. Marfa Public Radio’s founder told Barth that he expects the new station will reflect the “conservative, faith-based community” it will serve. You can read more about Marfa Public Radio in this article from Current, published last August.

Independent producer Kartemquin Films posted this petition online to arrange more favorable scheduling than Thursday nights for the indie showcases POV and Independent Lens. See also <Current coverage. Taking Action: PBS Needs Independents March 15, 2012 The following is an open letter to PBS. We encourage all independent filmmakers and fans of public media to join us as signatories by commenting below, or emailing us at PBSNeedsIndies@kartemquin.com, or tweet #PBSNeedsIndies to us on Twitter. Kartemquin has a long history of supporting public broadcasting, and we feel we must again rise to the challenge in raising our concern, and hopefully awareness and action, over the issues below.

American Journalism Review profiles Kinsey Wilson, NPR’s first chief content officer. In his position, Wilson oversees the distribution of all of NPR’s content through its many channels. NPR and its stations have expanded their audience throughout a challenging time of digital disruption to media, which puts the system in ”a position of tremendous strength as we adapt to these technology changes,” says Wilson. The new CCO started out in journalism at Chicago’s City News Bureau: “You got a very quick education in a sort of gritty, boots-on-the-ground neighborhood reporting.” He later went on to get an introduction to digital journalism at Congressional Quarterly in the ’90s.

The Oregon Republican Party has canceled the GOP presidential debate that had been scheduled for Monday (March 19) at Oregon Public Broadcasting, the station is reporting. While former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich had accepted the invitation, candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum both declined. The debate would have been a first for a public broadcasting station, with OPB producing and feeding the program to the nation. See the next issue of Current on March 26 for the backstory on how the debate was sanctioned, and the partnership behind the event: OPB, the Oregon Republican Party and the Washington Times newspaper.

Public Radio International has released its first book for the iPad, the Studio 360 Teacher Redesign multi-touch book, available free via the iBookstore. For the last five years, PRI’s culture show Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, produced at WNYC, has hired graphic design teams to rethink the images of things as diverse as Uncle Sam, the gay-pride flag, the Monopoly board game and Valentine’s Day. Last fall teacher Kate Ahearn of Haverhill, Mass., suggested a revamp of the image of teachers. Studio 360 recruited New York design firm Hyperakt, which created new campaigns to recruit teachers, designed new bathroom signage — even temporary tattoos.

The fate of 47-year-old PBS member station WTVI-TV in Charlotte, N.C., could be decided by Mecklenburg County commissioners next Tuesday (March 20), reports the Charlotte Observer. Commissioners “appear to be split” on support the station needs for a merger with Central Piedmont Community College. At this week’s meeting, commissioner Bill James said he felt WTVI has no chance to succeed, as public broadcasters UNC-TV and SCETV also serve Mecklenburg. Commissioner Karen Bentley said Charlotte is a tough market to support three stations. “I don’t think bringing WTVI to CPCC is going to change that,” she said. Elsie Garner, WTVI executive director, said the station has “by far” more viewers in Mecklenburg than the other two stations, little overlap in programs, and 75 percent of WTVI’s programs are locally produced.

Looks like the upcoming companion program to Antiques Roadshow (Current, Nov. 7, 2011) might get a new name. Its working title has been Market Wars, but PBS is now asking Facebook fans to vote. An early fave: Flea Marketeers. Catchy!