Ellen Goodman, a Rutgers law professor and Fellow at the Center for Social Media, submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on the development of a national broadband plan, according to the Center, at American University. Her thoughts reflect research the Center has been doing for its Future of Public Media project. In her comments (PDF), Goodman notes various current pubmedia activities using high-speed connections, and suggests that further progress will only happen “if public media systems become more diverse, open, networked, innovative, technologically sophisticated, and focused on a service mission to meet public needs where the market will not go.”

The Texas Tribune, an online nonprof news site based in Austin, launched Nov. 3 to cover “public policy, politics, government and other matters of statewide concern.” It received $1 million from its new chairman and co-founder, venture capitalist John Thornton, according to the Daily Texan at the University of Texas at Austin. The project will collaborate with the university on five election polls, and with the school’s Center for Politics and Governance for a lecture series and student internships. Here’s more about the project.

Journalism That Matters, an organization of “media innovators and stakeholders” that nurtures discussions on the emerging modern ecosystem of public media, is hosting the confab “Reimagining News and Community in the Pacific Northwest,” Jan. 7-10, 2010, at the University of Washington, Seattle. It’s the group’s first regional workshop since its founding in 2000, following nationally focused meetings in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Silicon Valley; and Washington, D.C. Participants have included reporters, editors, publishers, videographers, photographers, media educators, reformers and citizen journalists; audience members are from print, broadcast, and online media, both mainstream and entrepreneurial. The group’s founders are also a diverse bunch.

The longest running multimedia public-affairs series in the nation, “Chicago Matters,” is ending after 19 years, according to Chicago Tribune media reporter Phil Rosenthal. The series was a partnership among pubTV’s WTTW 11, Chicago Public Radio, the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Reporter newspaper to spotlight a major regional issue each year. It’s funded by the Chicago Community Trust. The group, citing the recession’s toll, said in a statement that it has “redirected $2.7 million towards basic human needs” and will stop funding “Chicago Matters” at the end of 2009. Last week the Trust announced a new program, “Community News Matters,” “to spur growth of new sources of quality local news.”

A new strategic plan worked up at Chicago Public Radio unexpectedly went public earlier this week when it was leaked to the Chicago Reader. The three-year plan (PDF) assesses the broadcaster’s strengths and weaknesses and puts forth general goals such as “Create modular, highly useful, adaptive and relevant content” and “Build a relationship engine” — i.e., help listeners customize which content they get from the station and on what platforms. Some of the plan’s blunter language addresses the progress, or lack thereof, of Vocalo, the ambitious web/radio hybrid that the station debuted in 2007. “As a website Vocalo must be seen as unsuccessful so far,” the report says.

As of Monday the fed’s DTV converter box coupon program is over, with nearly half the 64 million coupons unredeemed, reports Broadcasting & Cable. That translates to some $1.2 billion worth of the $40 coupons unused.

Jason Seiken, PBS senior vice president, interactive, is one of a slew of speakers at the New TeeVee Live ’09, Television Reinvented confab today in San Francisco. The annual meeting delves into the future of television as it morphs into “gaming consoles, browser-enabled TVs, startup set-top boxes, network DVRs, simple cables — it’s a battle to see who can bring the flexibility and variety of online video delivery to the comfort of your couch.” Seiken’s presentation is “Transforming a MSM Brand,” about PBS’s strategy to use online video and social media to revamp and revitalize its brand. Also attending: Kevin Dando, PBS director, education and online communications; and Tim Olson, v.p.

Fred Newman, sound effects man extraordinaire on American Public Media’s Prairie Home Companion, gave a demonstration of his craft Wednesday afternoon in Enid, Okla., reports the Enid News and Eagle. Newman was in town doing sound effects for The Wonderful Life of George Bailey, an adaptation of the film It’s a Wonderful Life as a radio drama at Enid Symphony Hall. Newman’s grandfather sparked his passion for sounds at an early age, he said. His grandfather placed a finger on Newman’s lips and told to listen to the sounds. “If the wind was blowing he would tell me to hear the whisper of the sound,” Newman told the crowd.

For the first time, pubTV stations may broadcast the 60-minute National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, D.C. According to partners WETA, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, the ceremony, which takes place Dec. 3, will be available starting Dec. 4 to run throughout the holiday season. It’s the 86th annual lighting. (2008 photo: National Park Service)

The crowds are arriving for APT’s Fall Marketplace, today through Saturday in Fort Myers, Fla. Lots of events, including a professional development seminar by Steve McGowan, senior vice president of research for the Discovery Channel, “Traditional Media’s Future When Facing the Rise of New Media.”

California Watch, a division of the Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting, and KQED Radio officially unveiled their editorial collaboration to bring more watchdog coverage of statewide issues to public radio airwaves. Michael Montgomery, a veteran investigative reporter formerly with American RadioWorks, will produce stories exclusively for California Report, a KQED Radio series with a weekly cume of 620,000 listeners statewide. The partners will jointly produce interactive multimedia and pool their editorial resources, including office space in the Sacramento, the state capitol, and California Watch journalists will appear regularly on other KQED programs. “Public radio is a critical distribution outlet and this opportunity to reach large numbers of public radio listeners in California fits right into our strategy of maximizing the impact of our stories by using muliple media platforms,” said Robert Rosenthal, executive director of CIR.

In an online chat with WashingtonPost.com readers, Vivian Schiller gives herself a B+ for her first 10 months as NPR president. “I’ve gotten a lot done, but not as much as I hope to over time!” she writes. Beyond the usual complaints about pledge drives and government subsidies for public broadcasting, chat participants complained about liberal bias on the weekly NPR news quiz Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! “Peter Sagal is the most biased personality you have on staff. He routinely takes cheap shots at the GOP, but refuses to go after Democratic figures,” writes one participant. “Why do you keep Dan Schorr around?”

Steve Waldman, incoming special adviser to FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, said confronting the myriad troubles in the news industry will be a priority in his work. He told TV News Check (registration required) that he will study “the very worrisome and deep contraction of journalism,” adding, “You have this real threat, especially to fulltime professional local journalism. … The chairman is interested in making sure we’re thinking creatively and in a coordinated way.” AOL’s Daily Finance Blog dubbed him “The point man for fixing the news business.” There he laid what he’ll be looking at: “My first assignment is really to figure out what the problem is, and to try to be as precise and kind of data-driven as possible.

Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney was on hand at Sesame Workshop yesterday as the New York City mayor’s office proclaimed Nov. 10, 2009, as Sesame Street Day, and placed a temporary street sign at 64th and Broadway across from the workshop to honor the 40-year-old show. The cast and crew were there, as well as President and CEO Gary E. Knell. The Workshop staff jammed elevators to attend, wearing bright T-shirts and party hats for the occasion, top. (Photos: Sesame Workshop). Many more photos online at Pacific Coast News. Today, above, there’s cake!

The Radio-Television News Directors Association is updating its name, according to TV News Check. Now it’s the Radio Television Digital News Association. That makes the third name since the groups founding in 1946 as the National Association of Radio News Directors. “We spent quite a bit of time in board meetings over the last few years and we ran names up and down the flagpole,” said President Stacey Woelfel. “Ultimately, we ended up with this letter swap in the middle of the name, which I thought was brilliant when I heard it, because it still allowed us to keep that RTNDA brand.