Publicly Owned and Operated Media
by Adam | November 13, 2009 | Conference, Journalism | Comments Off
LIVE BLOGGING (EXCUSE THE TYPOS)
Ellen Goodman – Rutgers University Law School
Public Media, from Broadcast to Broadband
What is the purpose of public broadcasting?
Original vision of 1967 Public Broadcasting Act – very contemporary, ahead of its time – universal service in every community and citizen engagement in every community
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
“that constitute a source of alternative sources for all . . .”
ACCESS to information and networks
OUTREACH to underserved communities
SERVICE public with information
What should public media become given:
technological convergence; information abundance; new publics; participatory capabilities
The media no longer can just reach out but others also have to (and can) reach in
The case for public media:
Market Failures
Non-Market Objectives
$10 billion plus investment
Create where the market fails to create
- not just creation from scratch but also curation (aggregate at large) and then connect
Can public media SAVE journalism?
Digital networks make it more likely but the original 1967 public broadcasting act makes it difficult. Most of the federal support goes to public broadcasting
Many of the most exciting public media projects involve connections with community groups. This echoes the comments by Paul Bass on the previous panel in which he discussed that the citizen journalist is not king – still need the professional journalist – but the citizen (journalist) has a bigger role to play.
Josh Silver – Executive Director of Free Press (organization has been around for 7 years)
Involve the public in very important public policy debates – commercial media is abysmal
The reliance on coveted advertisers can skew the content and get them to shy away from some very important topics.
Reference to Vanity Fair article that Reality programming has cheapened the networks. There is a constant quest for ever-cheaper content.
When we look at this public media question, there is a really simple question
If you look at the divorce of news content and advertising, which has many factors on top of the digital revolution, the question is whether there is sufficient revenue sources (including advertising) to support meaningful national and international newsgathering? Absolutely not!
No matter what, you will lose the majority of professional journalists in this country? Thus we have to look at the public sector as a necessary evil. He uses this term because people generally don’t like the idea of government money funding media. It is sort of like trying to get your kid to eat asparagus. It may not be the desired source but it is the necessary one.
Over the past couple of months, there have been two really good reports that have come out, especially the Knight Commission Report headed by Peter Shane.
In general, across the board, we have to broaden the debate. We need a real movement across this country that really understands how vital journalism is – likens it to the women’s suffrage and Civil Rights movements.
Friendly: “If Public Broadcasting is reliant on an annual appropriation from Congress, it will be a disaster.” And in fact, it has been a disaster.
We have one of the lowest per capita funding of public broadcasting in the developing world.
It is 1/30th or even less of what AIG got in its bailout. A real populist.
If we are going to do this, it has to be non-ideological – conservatives and liberals who can work together in support of an emboldened public media.
Yet there is no explanation of how to make that happen – especially how to get conservatives on board!
The Carnegie Commission had a “we can” and “must do” attitude. History is repeating itself and we must work together to replicate that success.
Laura Walker – General Manager – WNYC, New York
Wins the prize with the first reference to the Kindle.
Describing her subway ride in NYC where only five people were reading a paper newspaper, and three of those were the free am newspapers.
Public Media must aim to preserve local democracy.
3 Specific Areas of focus in the journalistic world
1. Local Coverage
2. Deep Coverage
Investigative Journalism (doesn’t pay and we need to make sure someone is asking those questions)
3. Represent the diverse voices in this country
Forget nostalgia. The New York Times newsroom in 1961 wasn’t all that great. You wouldn’t even know there was an African American person in this country – and the only women were on the Society Pages.
We are no longer just telling a story but we are also initiating and facilitating a conversation.
- This is a major theme that is emerging. Journalism is more of a conversation. But it is not a free flowing conversation with no restraints but rather one led and moderated by the professional journalists – especially those funded by public institutions.
But there are limits. We need to make sure that as we evolve, we maintain very high standards for journalism.
Fort Hood Example – there was a lot of WRONG information coming out from a 30-year-old Twitterer female soldier. She said that the shooter was dead and that there was a second shooter. How do the “journalists” do the fact checking necessary to ensure accuracy?
As the role of the journalist changes, so do the pay models. The pay walls are coming. And in the not-for-profit world, it is key that we come up with sustainable business models. It will help protect against funders with an agenda.
Although there is somewhat of a contradiction here in that arguing for public funding and yet recognizing that can influence the content. The key is mixed partnerships that is not all one or the other.
We have an opportunity and the responsibility to fill the void of local journalism.
We need more public funding – not just for infrastructure – but most importantly, for the CONTENT.
This movement is not going to resonate like suffrage but that doesn’t mean that we can’t talk to Congress and increase our funding.
The recipe for change – thinking big – add 500 reporters in communities across this country. We need to challenge others to come up with plans to really cover their local areas.
Lawrence Grossman – Digital Promise Project
Creative Destruction – following up on Paul Bass’s presentation from the last panel
We have heard about the trouble that the news industry is in, the fact of the matter is that we are living through the creative destruction of a $50 billion industry.
The Web is killing off the news media of the 20th industry. Every single monopoly newspapers is in serious financial trouble – not to mention the major news magazine and network television news.
Even the normally wealthy Forbes, Fortune, and Business Week are suffering.
This is evidence of capitalism’s propensity for creative destruction.
Presidential Election, Michael Jackson’s Death, and Shooting spree in Fort Hood. Once the videos are seen, the viewers do not go back to the old media forms.
Six grandchildren from ages 18-28 and never seen any of them read a newspaper in print, let alone purchase a newspaper in print.
Perhaps the most intriguing statistic of the day – for the first time, the annual survey from the Society for the Protection of Journalists – demonstrated that the largest single group of imprisoned journalists was Internet journalists.
We should stop trying to save “old” media. It is dead and it isn’t coming back. So how do we ensure that the new journalism will flourish?
And regardless, we are not looking for a return to the days of party-controlled journalism or Father Coughlin-style radio reporting (think Lou Dobbs but rabid anti-semitism that made Dobb’s xenophobia look like niceties)
Reconstruction of American Journalism Report – focus on local news coverage will require a big increase in funding from Congress. But this is neither a practical or realistic solution. The lack of funding is pathetic and not even close and the high budget deficits make it next to impossible to imagine additional funding for public broadcasting.
Although weak, there are interesting entittes, like the New Haven Independent and the Chicago News Cooperative. But perhaps the pooling of resources that so many papers are engaging in will provide a model for the future.
But the biggest impetus for expansion will come from the new digital technologies themselves.
Q&A
Silver responding to Larry Grossman’s skepticism – other countries have made Internet access accessible. We just need to copy other successful political movements to make this happen.
I cannot help but agree with with Larry Grossman. Ellen Goodman believes that the case just has to be made. But the reality is that the massive federal deficits will handcuff policymaking for years to come. Goodman wants people to focus on how public broadcasting impacts their lives? How can we do that?
Silver admits that it could take 30 years before we see a real renaissance in public funding for public broadcasting. But that is dependent on constant advocacy and vigilance – and it should not deter us from making the effort.
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