System/Policy

Kansas governor proposes 18 percent cut to pubcasting support

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Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has proposed reducing state funding for public broadcasting by $100,000 for fiscal year 2016, a 16 percent cut from this fiscal year. Brownback’s proposed budget calls for a two-part reduction in funding that would cut state support by $12,000 this fiscal year, to $600,000, and then to $500,000 for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Eugene Williams, c.e.o. of KTWU-TV in Topeka, was not surprised by the proposed cut, since Brownback has consistently opposed state funding of public broadcasting. Williams had already adjusted his station’s budget to prepare for cuts in state support. KTWU’s received $50,000 in state funds this fiscal year, down from a high of $300,000 in previous years.

Journalism

Kansas City’s KCPT picks up gauntlet to expand local news coverage

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Three years ago, a delegation from Kansas City Public Television, including the board chair, trekked out to San Diego’s KPBS to evaluate how that station’s extensive radio, television and online news operation might be adapted in Kansas City. A few months later, an influential visitor to Kansas City, PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer, urged KCPT leaders to act on their nascent ambitions to develop a locally focused news service for the community. Over dinner at the restaurant Lidia’s, Lehrer “kind of threw the gauntlet down,” recalled Kliff Kuehl, KCPT president, challenging executives to step up the station’s commitment to news coverage. But the proposal to transform KCPT into a true local news hub remained mostly an aspiration until a surprise major grant from the Hale Family Foundation arrived in July 2013. Only then was the station able to turn its ambitions into something substantive and seemingly sustainable.

Programs/Content

KCPT special examines gun violence as health-care epidemic

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KCPT in Kansas City, Mo., is examining gun violence as a health-care epidemic in a live hourlong call-in show this week. “It’s one of those nagging issues that simply won’t go away,” Nick Haines, executive producer, said in a press release. “Why do we accept such an unacceptably high death toll in our inner city? It would be easy for us to ignore the problem as unfixable. But we feel obligated as a public TV station to spotlight the problem and make a concerted effort to seek answers.”

Special Correspondent Sam Zeff will report on the city’s Aim4Peace program, which tracks violence, predicts where it may spread and then takes steps to prevent it.