Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has made good on his promise to slice public broadcasting out of next year’s budget. His office announced today highlights of his budget proposal that will be unveiled Dec. 17. McDonnell said that ending support of public broadcasting by the Commonwealth will save $2 million in fiscal 2012 and a full phaseout by the end of FY 2013. His total package of recommendations would save Virginia some $191 million. McDonnell included pubcasting cuts in budget amendments he submitted to the legislature in the spring; they were rejected. Overall funding for public stations has declined in recent years, dropping from $3.6 million annually during the 2006-08 biennium to $1.9 million in the current two-year budget, reports the Virginian-Pilot.

Diverse Voices Project IV, offering up to $100,000 in co-production funding per documentary project, is accepting applications. The fund, a P.O.V. initiative backed by by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, fosters emerging and diverse doc filmmakers with production support and mentoring. Deadline is Jan. 14.

NPR’s use of an outside blog comment moderation firm has come in handy — particularly in the days after the Juan Williams firing in October, when “we had tens of thousands of comments coming in that week,” NPR Senior Strategist Andy Carvin tells the American Journalism Review. ICUC Moderation Services now monitors all blog posts. “NPR was forced to take defensive action after barrages of inflammatory posts by trolls and spammers polluted its discussion boards and threatened to become a persistent problem,” as AJR reports. Previously, interns and NPR staffers deleted offensive posts. But the online comments have become so plentiful that they simply couldn’t keep up.

NPR’s Senior National Correspondent Linda Wertheimer has decided to move to to half-time status in 2011. She will continue as a substitute host of Morning Edition and other NPR news programs and as an anchor for special events, including Congressional hearings. A memo to stations noted that “Ms. Wertheimer emphasizes she does not expect to spend more time with her family.” (Image: NPR)

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced today (Dec. 15) $2 million in grants to fund mobile DTV work at stations in 20 markets by the end of 2011. The funding will help stations pay for equipment and installation to broadcast pubTV content to mobile and handheld devices. Public television and commercial broadcasters are all working toward a national mobile video service. The deadline for a second round of grants is June 30, 2011.

Juan Williams, the news analyst who landed a $2 million contract with Fox News after his dismissal from NPR, has signed a two-book deal with Crown Publishing, the New York Times reports. His first book, to be released next summer, will “focus on free speech and the growing difficulty in America of speaking out on sensitive topics.” The second book doesn’t have a publication date, but will “examine the changing face of America since the time of the Founding Fathers,” as seen by “noteworthy individuals who have helped to expand on and transform our ideas of what it means to be an American.”

Big Bird visited Beijing today (Dec. 14) to help kick off a new outreach to produce and distribute emergency response and preparedness content for children and their families in China. “A flood came through Sesame Street and destroyed my nest,” Big Bird said. “It was really scary. But the good thing is that it didn’t hurt any of my friends and they all helped me make a new home. Today I found out about what other things we could do to keep safe and how we can help each other when something like that happens. Gosh, I can’t wait to tell all my friends what I learned!”

Jennifer Lawson has returned to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, this time as senior vice president of television and digital video content. Lawson, currently g.m. of WHUT/Howard University Television in Washington, D.C., will work with PBS, pubTV stations and independent producers to develop content. She recently ended her term as vice chair of the PBS board of directors. Lawson originally was hired by CPB in 1980, working as associate director of the fund’s drama and arts program and later television program fund director. She left for PBS in 1989 as executive vice president for national programming and promotion (Current, October 1989), back when Congress ordered CPB to work more closely with PBS to determine how to improve the national production funding process.

Movie critic Roger Ebert has Tweeted that his new show, Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies is being picked up in 192 markets and the Armed Forces Network. Debut is January.

Two public radio stations are receiving their first Community Service Grants from CPB. KCNP-FM in Ada, Okla., licensed to the Chickasaw Nation, gets $104,813. It began broadcasting in 2009. It covers the central and southeastern regions of the state with tribal, local and national news and issues; cultural programs; and music and talk shows. WSGE-FM, in Dallas, N.C., signed on in 1980. It will receive $69,875. Its motto: “Your Eclectic Music Station.”

The first general manager of Hawaii Public Radio, Cliff Elben, died Dec. 11 in Honolulu. He was 86. Eblen arrived in Hawaii in January 1966 as program manager for ETV, Hawaii’s first public television station, which launched that April. That ultimately became KHET-TV, now PBS Hawaii. Eblen and ETV colleague Bob Miller often discussed Hawaii’s need for a pubradio station, so Elben quit KHET-TV in 1980 to give that a go. KHPR-FM, with a startup budget of $7,000, signed on in November 1981. Eblen also was active with Hawaii theater groups and played a recurring role as an FBI agent in early episodes of the original Hawaii Five-0.

On average every month, 170 million Americans go to television, radio, online services and in-person events offered by public media. That crowd amounts to more than half of the country’s population. Surprised? That’s just what the slogan writers are hoping for. The line “170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting,” debuting today (Dec. 13) on a new website — 170MillionAmericans.org — is intended to help defend public broadcasting from potentially dire funding cuts looming in the new year. The site is sponsored by nine national public TV and radio organizations and co-managed by two of them, the Association for Public Television Stations and Minnesota-based American Public Media.

Some 140 projects are listed in Current’s annual Pipeline survey, including its one-time addendum in December. Among the programs are noninstructional public TV projects one hour or longer in various stages of planning, fundraising and production that will debut nationally in January 2010 and beyond. For space reasons we excluded sequels and episodes of ongoing series that are 60 minutes or shorter. Winter ’11 After the Hunt with Chef John Folse Producing organization: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Distributor: APT. Episodes: 26 x 30 (HD). Status: postproduction. Major funders: Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

In June 2007, when conservative publisher Rupert Murdoch purchased the venerable Wall Street Journal, actor and philanthropist Paul Newman was upset. Wary of Murdoch’s reputation for buying up and sensationalizing news outlets, Newman sensed trouble ahead for American newspapers. Soon after, Newman called his local PBS member station, Connecticut Public Television. He had a positive relationship with CPTV: President Jerry Franklin says the station once received a donation check written on Newman’s personal account for $300,000. But this time, Newman had a programming idea — and with it, a stunning offer. “Paul thought the Wall Street Journal sale was the beginning of the end of journalism,” says Franklin, who had an ongoing telephone friendship with Newman.

Idaho Public Television has hired Megan Griffin as its new director of development. She will manage a team of 10, including director of membership, director of major giving and director of corporate sponsorship. From 2005 to ’09 she was a program director and director of development at the Children’s Home Society of Idaho, where she created a program that raised more than $3 million.