Sturges Dorrance, a member of the community advisory board of KCTS, provided this statement to Current in May 2003 when asked about recent developments at the Seattle public TV station. Dorrance is retired manager of KING-TV, a major commercial station in Seattle, and a member of the advisory board of KUOW-FM, also in Seattle.
Originally published
on Current.org, supplementing Current's print issue of May 12, 2003
By
Sturges Dorrance
The KCTS Television Board has retired Burnie Clark, hired an interim manager and organized a search committee for a new manager. Five members of the Advisory Board have been brought into the process, but the rest of the Advisory Board has been kept in the dark.
No promised joint meeting of the two boards has been announced. The Television Board opened its last meeting to the public after considerable pressure from several Advisory Board members.
Yes, there is some halting progress.
What we haven't heard from the Television Board is how they allowed this situation to progress for nearly a decade—in spite of numerous efforts by people inside the station, on the advisory board and from the community to tell them what was happening. I have heard no statement from this board accepting responsibility in any way for what has occurred. Frankly, they continue their secretive ways.
The Television Board was dragged to the present point kicking and screaming by local newspaper stories they simply couldn't ignore. In my view, if these stories had not been published this board would have done nothing. And frankly I find their eagerness to dump the entire problem on the departed Burnie Clark quite disingenuous.
Moreover, there are lots of unanswered questions that need to be answered before the station can really move on — let alone attract a suitable long-term manager.
At the January meeting of the Advisory Board, after The Seattle Weekly stories ran, Television Board Chair Doug Beighle was asked a number of direct questions about station finances. He dodged them all saying the station was in good shape and that we on the Advisory Board shouldn't worry about such matters. He assured us that the Finance Committee of the Television Board was staffed by very qualified people who had matters well in hand. He actually told the Advisory Board we have much the better job of the two boards because we don't have to worry about such weighty matters.
But here are some of the specific questions that need answers—aside from what the Television Board knew and when it knew it.
The Television Board states the station will have a surplus operating statement this fiscal year. If that is the case, how does the station justify firing 35 employees? Is that how the surplus is achieved?
I would like to see the Television Board recognize that the only way it can effectively deal with these questions is through an outside, impartial investigation. Not only does the staff require this; the Advisory Board and the people who have given the station money through the years deserve it. It is the only way to restore trust in a public institution.
At the public meeting held by the Television Board, one longtime major donor to the station rose to say he hopes the Television Board will stand up to its responsibility and fix the situation. He also said that in the past few years, as rumors flew through the community that Channel 9 [KCTS] was in deep financial difficulty, he asked Burnie Clark for a financial statement. He did not receive it. He asked in two subsequent years. He received nothing. At the public meeting Doug Beighle told this longtime supporter Burnie was not the reason this supporter had not received the information he requested. Doug said he had embargoed the request.
I found this statement very telling. The Television Board has, in fact, been in control of KCTS's failing situation, as much—perhaps more so than Burnie Clark. Vital financial information has been kept from the public.
Until the public meeting it was not possible to obtain a copy of the station's annual audited financials, let along station quarterly or annual reports. When stories broke, local newspapers could come to the station to view the material but not copy it. This may be acceptable behavior in the aerospace-defense industry, from which Mr. Beighle emerged, but strikes a number of us as inappropriate in a public institution.
Channel 9's period of glasnost has barely started. The pressure must continue if public trust is to be restored.
Web page posted May 13, 2003
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