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.

Helen Mirren won a Primetime Emmy for her performance in Elizabeth I, an HBO/Channel 4 drama that also received the statuette for outstanding miniseries. Barry Manilow was PBS’s winner in last night’s live Emmy telecast, winning for his performance in a fundraising program.

The New York Times reports on a lawsuit filed last week that seeks to protect the First Amendment right to publish online parodies of Barney, the PBS Kids character that some adults love to hate.

Some children’s and consumer advocates aren’t happy about PBS’s plan to add banner ads to PBSKids.org beginning Oct. 1, reports the Los Angeles Times. “Children are basically inundated with marketing and the PBS website was in some ways a sanctuary,” said Susan Linn, a psychologist and co-founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in Boston. “This is just one more step in the commercialization of PBS and children’s programming.” Said a PBS spokesman: “This is going to be very smart and respectful, and anything that will appear online will be in the spirit of what is on PBS on air.”

Alaska Public Media is laying off seven workers to offset a growing deficit, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The network’s president attributes the shortfall to declining state support and rising costs in programming and other areas. Alaska Public Media operates the Alaska Public Radio Network and TV and radio stations in Anchorage.

WQED-FM in Pittsburgh is reducing the chatter during its classical music programming and making its selections more accessible to casual listeners, reports the city’s Post-Gazette. “We’ve recommitted to the classical music format — and to make sure every show we offer is speaking in a contemporary, welcoming, down-to-earth voice,” says Susan Lyons, executive director.