Viewers aren’t complaining much about PBS’s online advertising practices, writes PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler, but criticisms leveled by media activist Jeff Chester are healthy. The objections are forcing “an airing about how this very important, and unique, public broadcasting service is gliding into a new source of revenue,” Getler writes.

Writing for The Nation, Amy Alexander examines the impact of Tavis Smiley’s The Covenant with Black America. “One doesn’t just read The Covenant With Black America,” she says. “Rather, to read this nonfiction manifesto-cum-workbook is to become part of a multimedia movement aimed at increasing black political and economic power.”

AOL and Microsoft video services are deep linking to public TV content, reports Dennis Haarsager via his Technology 360 blog, which allows users to access pubcasters’ video while bypassing their home pages (and sponsor messages). The search engines generate much more traffic than sites can attract on their own, but “the desire to control content we produce runs deep within the television industry, so it’s bound to stir things up as more people realize . . . how some video sites are accessing content,” Haarsager writes. In addition, “bandwidth costs are going to be impacted by links you don’t control.”

A Senate panel is tabling President Bush’s re-nomination of former CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson to the Broadcasting Board of Governors in the wake of a damning probe into his actions as U.S. broadcast chief, Reuters reports (via the Washington Post). The BBG oversees government international programming like Voice of America, Radio Sawa and Radio and TV Marti. Tomlinson’s current term as BBG chair ends when Congress adjourns later this year, but President Bush could re-install him without opposition with a recess appointment. Elsewhere, a Bloomberg columnist wonders “Why do preachy Republicans behave so badly?“

Journalism thinkers hope WNET’s “AIR: America’s Investigative Reports” gives “the profession a badly needed image boost,” reports the New York Times. The weekly public affairs show, which debuts Friday, will showcase notable news investigations.

Calling all citizen journalists: Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor and media blogger, may have an assignment for you. His NewAssignment.net, an experimental project partially funded by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, aims to use both media pros and amateurs to develop a new, collaborative form of investigative journalism. Have an idea for an investigation? Rosen is looking for suggestions. See also PBS.org’s Mark Glaser and other examples of collaborative civic journalism initiatives, such as the Sunlight Foundation’s “Exposing Earmarks” project.

Kenneth Tomlinson responds to the report by State Department investigators on his activities as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors: “I believe it will become clear that this investigation was inspired by partisan divisions,” he says.

A State Department probe found that former CPB Chair Ken Tomlinson improperly gave a job to a friend in his continuing role as chair of the board that oversees Voice of America, the New York Times reported today. Investigators also allege that he supervised his horse racing stable from a government office. A two-page summary of the report said Tomlinson billed the government for more days of work than permitted, including days when he also billed hours to CPB. Three members of Congress, alerted by a whistleblower, asked for the probe in July.

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.