Nice Above Fold - Page 536
Pubradio manager and advocate Tim Emmons dies; was a co-founder of MEGS
Northern Public Radio General Manager Tim Emmons, a passionate pubradio advocate and mentor, and a driving force behind the Morning Edition Grad School, died Feb. 18 at home after a long battle with cancer. He was 53. He headed the five stations in DeKalb, Ill., for 15 years. The NPR Board observed a moment of silence for Emmons at its Feb. 24 meeting in Washington, D.C., and adopted a resolution marking his passing. “The words used to describe Tim by colleagues across the country,” it reads in part, “are ‘genuine,’ ‘inspirational,’ ‘wise,’ ‘modest,’ ‘intelligent,’ ‘tireless,’ a ‘quiet giant,’ a ‘champion for public radio’ and — over and over again — ‘courageous,’ in his career, in his life, and facing death.”Policy delay of nonprofit status spikes Chicago News Cooperative
Rumors started quickly, trying to explain why the Chicago News Cooperative was closing. The Internal Revenue Service had rejected the co-op’s application for nonprofit status. Then it was said that the MacArthur Foundation had refused to fund the startup out of fear it might take down City Hall friends. The truth was more prosaic. Several events — its tax status, its inability to lasso a deep-pocket donor and the demands of its publishing partner the New York Times — moved the news co-op to suspend operations Feb. 26 after two-and-a-half years. The nonprofit news experiment began in November 2009 with a plan to produce high-quality public-service reporting about Chicago using seasoned journalists recently laid off by the Chicago Tribune.New NPR ethics code discourages outside contracts
NPR journalists must seek management approval to sign work contracts with other media outlets, and most such requests will not be granted, according to a comprehensive revision of the network’s ethics guidelines approved unanimously by the network’s board Feb. 24. The board reaffirmed the network’s desire to regulate moonlighting such as the ongoing appearances of former NPR news analyst Juan Williams on Fox News — a gig that led to his firing in 2010 and an extended hullaballoo exploited by Fox and Republican partisans. Publication of the NPR Ethics Handbook concluded a 15-month process that the Board initiated after Williams’s dismissal.
Keillor’s fundraiser for Obama revives complaints of bias
Like many entertainers, Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor has never tried to hide his liberal political leanings, but his decision to host an Obama re-election fundraising party in his Minnesota home last week worked the conservative blogosphere into a lather about NPR’s political bias. Yet NPR has no control over Keillor or his nationally syndicated weekly program. And there’s no guarantee that his program’s distributor, the Minnesota-based American Public Media Group, could heel its star vaudevillian if it tried to neutralize him politically. Keillor owns his production company and is responsible for the show’s content. APMG took a measured stance by endorsing Keillor’s First Amendment rights as an individual.No-chat zone ’twixt funders and reporters?
Radio news veteran Jim Asendio resigned as news director of Washington’s WAMU-FM last week after an internal dispute over a private fundraising event turned into a public clash over the editorial firewall protecting the station’s newsroom. Asendio objected when top managers required him and two reporters from his staff to participate in a “Meet the Producers” breakfast and panel discussion that the station hosted for major donors Feb. 22. The choice was stark, the news director said: “I could either not show up and be in trouble, or show up and violate my ethics, so I tendered my resignation.” The showdown, first reported by Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple, put a spotlight on one of the touchiest subjects in cash-strapped newsrooms — firewalls designed to protect working journalists from undue influence by funders and to prevent appearances that such conflicts exist.Philip Weinberg dies at 86; brought pubcasting to central Illinois
Philip Weinberg, “the man responsible for bringing public broadcasting to central Illinois,” according to the Peoria Journal Star, died Thursday (Feb. 2) in Peoria, Ill. He was 86. “Not only did he start public radio on the Bradley [University] campus,” said Chet Tomczyk, g.m. of WTVP-TV, “but when he came across Sesame Street, produced by the Children’s Television Workshop, he decided that here was a show that people in this community needed to be exposed to.” So Weinberg arranged for the program to play on another local channel for six months before it could be carried on the pubTV station that Weinberg put on the air in June 1971, Tomczyk said.
Output: PBS's first-ever Online Film Festival screens 20 short films, gilded applause for The Moth, public education through Indian humor, and more
Partners in the project are the pubmedia minority consortia — the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, Native American Public Telecommunications, the National Black Programming Consortium and Pacific Islanders in Communication — as well as the Independent Television Service and POV. The festival will be offered for video streaming on PBS.org and the redesigned PBS YouTube channel, which will be unveiled as the festival opens. The festival includes an audience participation element. Viewers can cast online votes for their favorite films, and PBS will recognize the winner with a People’s Choice festival award. PBS will use the Twitter handle #PBSolff to build social media buzz during the five-week run.APTS trustees approve new membership dues formula based on CSG
ARLINGTON, Va. – After holding membership dues flat for several years because of the recession, and researching numerous possible revamps of dues calculations, the Association of Public Television Stations will return to its original dues formula, based on a percentage of each pubTV station’s Community Service Grant, beginning with fiscal 2013. The APTS Board of Trustees today (Feb. 26) voted unanimously to adopt a formula based on 2 percent of the CSG, with a phase-in period during which no station will pay $2,000 more or less than its current dues. APTS is asking its three largest member stations, WNET in New York City, WGBH in Boston and WETA in Arlington, to continue to pay their current rate for the time being, said trustee John Harris, president of Prairie Public Broadcasting in Fargo, N.D.,"Downton" Emmy category switch may prompt "TV awards smackdown"
The hit Edwardian costume drama Downton Abbey from Masterpiece Classic is switching Emmy categories from mini-series to drama, “thereby setting up a fierce TV awards smackdown,” according to awards news site Gold Derby, in an exclusive report by Tom O’Neil, author of the books Movie Awards, The Emmys and The Grammys. Last year, O’Neil writes, Downton’s Season 1 won best miniseries “over widespread complaints” that it was a drama series “masquerading” as a mini-series in order to avoid competing with Emmy heavy hitter Mad Men. Season 1 of Downton had four episodes; Season 2, seven — exceeding the six that generally define a regular series.At NPR, Wilson promoted to chief content officer, Low Smith to senior news v.p.
NPR President Gary Knell has restructured the news organization’s top ranks, elevating digital chief Kinsey Wilson to executive v.p. and chief content officer, and appointing Margaret Low Smith as senior v.p. of news, a job she took on an interim basis last year. When Wilson joined NPR as senior v.p. and general manager of digital media in 2008, the position was parallel to the senior news exec post then held by Ellen Weiss. Knell’s restructuring elevates Wilson in NPR’s organization chart to supervise all of NPR’s content areas — news, programming and digital media. “In Kinsey and Margaret, we have two journalists, strategists and leaders with a keen understanding of the craft that distinguishes NPR — and how we continue to innovate and evolve,” Knell said in a news release.Oscar nominee "If a Tree Falls" now streaming on P.O.V. website
The full-length Academy Award-nominated documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, which premiered on P.O.V. last year, is now streaming on the show’s website through March 4. The film, exploring environmentalism and terrorism, is up for the documentary feature Oscar this Sunday (Feb. 26). It’s a co-production of ITVS, directed by Marshall Curry, and won best documentary editing at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.Downton gives public TV a ratings blockbuster
The Season 2 finale of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic, aired Feb. 19, won the biggest audience for a PBS program since the premiere of Ken Burns’s National Parks: America’s Best Idea in September 2009. Nielsen estimated that 5.4 million viewers watched the two-hour finale, giving PBS a 3.5 household rating. That doesn’t include the additional viewers of rebroadcasts, DVR recordings and online streams, PBS said. For the seven-week season, broadcast viewing was double the PBS average in primetime and 25 percent higher than in Downton’s first season. Online viewing grew much faster. For the full second season, Downton web streaming was up 400 percent over last season, logging 4.8 million views on the PBS Video Portal.Some 5.4 million viewers watched "Downton" finale, PBS says
Ratings for the Season 2 finale of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic are in, and the Feb. 19 episode scored the highest numbers for a PBS program since the premiere of Ken Burns’s National Parks in September 2009. An average audience of 5.4 million viewers (a 3.5 Nielsen household rating) watched, not including those viewing through station replays, DVRs or online streaming. On the web, full episodes of Season 2 received 4.8 million views on the PBS Video Portal, an increase of more than 400 percent over Season 1. Downton content accounted for more than 9 million streams from 1.5 million unique visitors across all platforms since the Season 2 premiere on Jan.This Keillor-hosted fundraiser isn't helping public radio
Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor has never tried to hide his liberal political leanings, but his decision to host a private fundraiser this week for President Obama’s reelection campaign has worked the conservative blogosphere into a lather about NPR’s political bias. The trouble is, NPR has no control over Keillor or his nationally syndicated weekly program. Neither does Minnesota-based American Public Media Group, which distributes Prairie Home Companion to public radio stations. Prairie Home Companion is not a news program — it’s an entertainment show — and Keillor’s own production company is responsible for its content. “Mr. Keillor’s political opinions and activities are his own, and do not reflect the views of APMG or its affiliated companies,” said Bill Gray, spokesman.NETA, Coca-Cola Bottlers partnering on insurance for pubcasting stations
The National Educational Telecommunications Association today (Feb. 23) announced that it is offering group health insurance coverage plans to pubcasters, a project it has been working on for several years. So far, 70 licensees, both television and radio, representing nearly 2,900 individuals, are participating in the new initiative. NETA is partnering with the Coca-Cola Bottlers Association to provide the coverage, through that company’s Alliance of Professional Service Organizations (APSO) subsidiary. The partnership marks “the beginning of significant savings and improved insurance coverage opportunities for those who participate,” NETA President Skip Hinton said in the announcement. APSO currently serves nearly 300 employers, including the majority of the soft-drink bottlers and more than 200 others, representing nearly 25,000 individuals.
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