A parody of NPR’s firing of Juan Williams led last night’s edition of The Daily Show, and Williams appeared on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show this morning. [Scroll down to second segment.] Links to other recent coverage: a Fox News producer confronts NPR President Vivian Schiller in a field segment for O’Reilly Factor; New York University J-School Professor Jay Rosen questions NPR’s stated objective of preserving journalistic standards of objectivity on WBUR’s On Point; and, on last weekend’s edition of On The Media, Slate’s William Saletan describes how Williams’ selectively edited remarks went viral as a selectively edited video blog post by ThinkProgress.

More than 45,000 persons have joined Free Press’s drive to send letters to Congress “defending public broadcasting and standing up to extremists” who want to de-fund NPR and PBS in the wake of the firing of longtime NPR commentator Juan Williams for his comments on Muslims. The Association for Public Television Stations also issued a statement Monday (Oct. 25) countering calls to end the funding. “There is widespread understanding that public television exists to provide what the market does not,” said Interim President Lonna Thompson, “reaching underserved audiences in communities across the nation.” And g.m.’s are weighing in on the controversy.

The interesting work of the Public Media Corps is the subject of Wednesday’s (Oct. 27) 1 p.m. (Eastern) webinar from the National Center for Media Engagement. Corps members are working in Washington, D.C., neighborhoods to determine community needs for digital media, and encourage use of technology. The webinar will provide stations with a mid-project update and advice on how the Corps’ efforts can inform other community engagement projects. Register here.

PBS is an official Google TV launch partner, reports media business site GigaOM. The service enables users with Google Chrome and Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to watch web content on TV. Many sites, including PBS Kids, are being optimized for television viewing. But Google TV is not without controversy: The Big Three networks are blocking access to their online content. Why? As GigaOM says, “when you make it drop-dead easy to watch a full-length web episode of Modern Family on the TV via the web, what’s to stop a user from skipping the broadcast altogether?” Here’s more info on Google TV from PBS NewsHour, and “Five Obstacles to Google TV” from IT World.

Three Alpha Antenna Services workers hired by PBS affiliate WCNY in Syracuse, N.Y., to repair its 350-foot transmission tower were injured in a fall, according to the Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dispatch. State police said accident occurred at about 11:45 a.m. Monday (Oct. 25) when an antenna atop of the tower buckled during the repairs. The three were 20 to 30 feet up when they fell, police said.William Fox, 49, suffered severe facial injures; Kelly Dougherty, 30, suffered a foot injury; and Gregory Campbell, 44, went to the hospital for evaluation and was discharged.

WXXI’s Homework Hotline is losing its co-creator and host, Carol Smith, who is retiring after 20 years with the program in Rochester, N.Y., reports the Daily News Online. The Hotline enables students in grades four through 12 to get help with homework problems live on the air. It has received numerous honors, including nine New York State Broadcasters Association awards for best program or series designed for children, and Silver and Bronze Tellys. Smith is also one of the founders of Rochester’s Dial-A-Teacher program. She’ll be honored on WXXI-AM’s 1370 Connection at noon Wednesday (Oct. 27).

If you’re interested in nonprofit news, be sure to check out the Hub. It’s a new online resource from the Voice of San Diego, a successful indie public service news site, and professors from San Diego State University. The Hub is targeted at folks who want to start their own public service news organization, offering help including legal and tax tips, an editorial toolkit and sustainability strategies. As its creators say on the site, the Hub “is intended to be a lively forum for discussion and information. We depend on the entire virtual community to add to its content.

Some 45 seconds of a controversial 60-second ad in the heated election race for Idaho schools superintendent consists of copyrighted material from an Idaho Public TV debate, reports the Spokesman-Review. IPTV General Manager Peter Morrill told the paper the network will “vigorously” defend its copyright. “We are not issuing them a license to utilize footage for their campaign purposes and … we would ask them to cease and desist,” he said, adding that manipulations of the clip include slow motion, digital zoom and a digital insertion of an out-of-date Idaho Public TV logo. The ad, for GOP Superintendent Tom Luna, criticizes his Democratic challenger, Stan Olson, recently retired superintendent of the Boise School District.

Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief of the indie nonprofit news source ProPublica, pointed out some of the many challenges that need to be addressed by members of the new public media, as part of the McGill lecture series at the University of Georgia last week (Oct. 21).”If we create business models that depend largely on page views,” he said, “we should not be surprised if they drive publishers to favor content with a high prospect of ‘going viral’ over content that is primarily thought-provoking, or challenging, or discomfiting, or even educational.” Also: “To sustain this kind of reporting as part of the fundamental underpinnings of our democracy, we need to nudge the sources of philanthropy in our society – ordinary citizens, foundations, and wealthy donors alike – to widen their view just a bit and see investigative reporting as a public service just as worthy of aid as museums, orchestras, ballet companies, clinics and private universities.”

PBS NewsHour has big plans for midterm election evening on Nov. 2. Anchor Jim Lehrer will host a live interactive special from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. both on-air and online, according to a show statement. After 10 p.m. online there’ll also be live blogging, interactive graphics, an election night mashup video and a social media stream highlighting comments on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and AIM.

Robert Feder, media blogger on Chicago Public Radio’s Vocalo.org, writes that its blogs are taking “a short break” and will return in a week or two on the redesigned website of WBEZ.org. Vocalo, which kicked off as a multimedia public-square discussion space in 2007, is having a rough go of it. A strategic plan (PDF) presented to Chicago Public Radio’s board last October said, “As a website Vocalo must be seen as unsuccessful so far” (Current, Jan. 11, 2010).

A Twitter from Sesame Street’s Bert, longtime pal of Ernie, prompted Sesame Workshop to declare that, no, the two are not gay. In Bert’s posting, he used the term “mo,” referring to his hairstyle. In a Sunday (Oct. 24) story the Los Angeles Times reports: “Reading ‘mo’ as slang for homosexual, gay bloggers rejoiced.” The paper notes that “the show’s latest season feels more LGBT-friendly than ever,” with guest stars including openly gay comic Wanda Sykes. But Ellen Lewis, Sesame Workshop’s corporate communications v.p., told the Times that the show is not consciously trying to appeal to gay viewers.

American Experience’s “Freedom Riders” doc is giving 40 college students the chance to ride along with the civil rights activists on the route of their famous 1961 trip. Students will be on board May 6-16, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the freedom rides (background from the Civil Rights Movement Veterans). The trip is the centerpiece of the unique outreach for the series, airing that month. College students may apply here. UPDATE: Also, don’t miss the National Center for Media Engagement/WGBH webinar Nov. 10 on the Freedom Riders outreach; more here. NCME says it’s streaming the entire program for station staff to preview leading up to as well as after the webinar.

In a U.S. District Court filing in New York on Friday (Oct. 22), ivi TV asked that the case against it by several broadcasters including PBS be moved to Seattle, where the company is based, reports Broadcasting and Cable. The broadcasters are asking the court to stop ivi’s streaming of their TV signals online either by restraining order or preliminary injunction (Current, Oct. 4). ivi says online TV station streaming is legal with its license from the U.S. Copyright Office. Here’s a copy of ivi’s latest court filing (PDF).

Rob Bole, CPB’s v.p., digital media strategy, spoke on “Public Media in a Digital Age” Oct. 12 at the FedTalks 2010 confab. Innovators from sectors such as citizen engagement, cyber security and open government addressed administration officials and other government reps at the one-day event. Check out Boles’s presentation here.