Quick Takes

Fanning will get Lifetime Achievement Emmy during ceremonies this fall

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Frontline creator and Executive Producer David Fanning will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences at the news and documentary Emmy Awards on Oct. 1, the academy announced today. “David Fanning has guided Frontline to the pinnacle of public affairs television,” said Malachy Wienges, academy chair, in the announcement. David Winn, director of the news and documentary Emmys, praised the program’s “decades-long commitment to journalistic excellence, integrity, and independence.” Past Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award recipients include Bill Moyers, Ken Burns, Tom Brokaw and Barbara Walters.

Quick Takes

President Obama to honor NPR’s Frank Deford with National Humanities Medal

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Frank Deford, sports journalist, author and longtime Morning Edition commentator, will receive the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday, reports the Westport News in Connecticut, where Deford has lived for nearly 40 years. The citation the president will read during the presentation recognizes Deford “for transforming how we think about sports. A dedicated writer and storyteller, Mr. Deford has offered a consistent, compelling voice in print and on radio, reaching beyond scores and statistics to reveal the humanity woven into the games we love.” He is one of 12 recipients of the National Humanities Medal. Others include writer Joan Didion, political scientist Robert Putnam, poet Kay Ryan and actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

Development

APTS, NPR retooling 170 Million Americans campaign

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A grassroots initiative that encourages citizens to lobby Capitol Hill for continued funding to public media is changing its name, revamping its website and updating its social-media outreach. Starting July 15, the 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting initiative, which launched in December 2010, will become Protect My Public Media, according to a message sent to supporters July 1. In a statement posted June 14 on the National Friends of Public Broadcasting website, NPR’s Mike Riksen said pubcasting’s Washington representatives have been working over several months to make the campaign “a more capable and vital asset in our efforts to preserve federal funding for public broadcasting stations.”

NPR has been collaborating with the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) to revamp the campaign, he said. Riksen is NPR’s v.p. of policy and representation. Representatives for NPR and APTS declined to discuss the changes with Current.

Programs/Content

AFI Docs festival screens diverse pubTV films

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Public TV was less visible at this year’s American Film Institute documentary festival. Yet several of the 10 films that had received financial support from public TV grant-makers or broadcast commitments from PBS stood out among the 53 documentaries in the lineup. One even took the top prize.

Development

Forum will focus on philosophies of public media’s local service

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The next Public Media Futures Forum, the latest in an ongoing series of events examining topics of interest to the field, will take place Tuesday at Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta. The city is also the site of this week’s Public Media Development and Marketing Conference, sponsored by DEI. The forum will explore differing philosophies of local service, such as the audience-loyalty approach championed for public radio by David Giovannoni and the “community impact” approach favored by CPB, foundations and other stakeholders. The more than 20 participants will include Michal Heiplik, director of the Contributor Development Partnership, a project of the Major Market Group and CPB; Ted Krichels, currently a project director for PBS, examining sustainable station business models;  Arthur Cohen, president of Public Radio Program Directors; and Barbara Appleby and Valerie Arganbright, co-founders of the Minnesota sustainability consultancy Appleby Arganbright. The Forum will be streamed live from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

People

‘Old-timer’ Fred Barzyk aims to Kickstart drama

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Fred Barzyk, a pioneering director who began his career at WGBH and went on to win Peabody and Venice Film awards, is asking for $4,000 on the crowd-funding website Kickstarter to produce the final short film of his drama trilogy on death.

Quick Takes

San Diego Comic-Con will include Sherlock panel

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PBS will have a presence at the San Diego Comic-Con for the first time in 44 years, with a Sherlock panel in the upcoming conference, Entetainment Weekly reports. The panel will feature co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (also executive producers and writers for the show), and producer Sue Vertue — but alas, star Benedict Cumberbatch will not be there. EW writer James Hibberd will moderate at the event, on July 18. Masterpiece, the British drama showcase that brought Sherlock to PBS, hosted a screening and Q&A with Moffat, Verte and Cumberbatch in New York last year, which brought out screaming throngs of fans. In 2011, it introduced U.S. audiences to the BBC show at the New York Comic-Con.