Category: Public Service Media

‘Rethinking Public Media’ Author Explains Importance of Public Media on MSNBC

‘Rethinking Public Media’ Author Explains Importance of Public Media on MSNBC

Barbara Cochran, author of Rethinking Public Media, a white paper that proposes strategies for implementing the Knight Commission’s recommendation on public media, has gone on MSNBC to discuss the justification for public funding of public media. Cochran sat down with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and told her that funding public media is “an investment in information [...]

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Cochran: Local Public Broadcasters Shouldn’t Lose Funding Because of Problems at NPR

Cochran: Local Public Broadcasters Shouldn’t Lose Funding Because of Problems at NPR

The firestorm raging around federal funding of public broadcasting has led to the resignation of Vivian Schiller as president and CEO of NPR, following the release of a video that showed the head of NPR’s fundraising unit criticizing the Republican party while also referring to Tea Party supporters as “seriously racist, racist people.” The video [...]

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The Community Information Toolkit, Version 1.0

The Community Information Toolkit, Version 1.0

At the 2011 Media Learning Seminar, an annual gathering hosted by the Knight Foundation, hundreds of community foundation leaders and journalism and technology experts previewed the beta version of the Community Information Toolkit, a set of tools and steps designed to help communities take stock of their news and information flow and take actionable steps [...]

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Why Congress shouldn’t desert public media

The following is an excerpt from an opinion piece written by Laura Walker of New York Public Radio and Jaclyn Sallee of Kohanic Broadcast Corp., published in the Washington Post February 4, 2011.
Why Congress shouldn’t desert public media
By Laura R. Walker and Jaclyn Sallee
Federal funding for public media has once again become a target in [...]

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Survey Highlights Strengths, Weaknesses of Local Public Media

Survey Highlights Strengths, Weaknesses of Local Public Media

Following the release of Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive, by Barbara Cochran, we wanted to learn more about what members of the public think about their public media. So the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program asked our friends at Spot.us to help us by surveying members of their community to [...]

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Variety: Pubcasters on the ropes

In his article, “Pubcasters on the ropes“ (Variety, January 22, 2011),  Ted Johnson summarizes several of the strategies for public media reform presented by Barbara Cochran in her white paper, Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive. The paper addresses ways to implement the Knight Commission’s Recommendation 2 on public media.
Pubcasters on the ropes
Stations fend off funding hook
By [...]

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CJR Story: “Public Media: ‘More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive’”

CJR Story: “Public Media: ‘More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive’”

The Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program jointly released a policy paper on Wednesday with recommendations for federal support for public broadcasting. The report, written by Barbara Cochran of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, is entitled “Rethinking Public Media” and is available here.

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Summary: Roundtable on Public Media, Part I

Summary: Roundtable on Public Media, Part I

Below is Part I of a summary of the Aspen Institute roundtable on public media reform held on December 8, 2010, to mark the release of “Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive,” by Barbara Cochran, Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Missouri School of [...]

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Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive

Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive

At a time when government funding for public broadcasting is hotly debated, Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive, a new policy paper by Barbara Cochran, offers five broad strategies and 21 specific recommendations to reform public media. The strategies include strengthening local news operations, sharing digital platforms among public entities, recruiting more [...]

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PubCamp: Making the Policy Case for Public Media

PubCamp: Making the Policy Case for Public Media

American University’s Center for Social Media recently hosted the 2nd Annual National Public Media Camp in Washington, D.C. The PubCamp, designed to bring together public broadcasters, developers and fans to create new strategies and tools for engagement, was held on November 20-21, 2010. Shilpi Singh has blogged some highlights of the discussion here.

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New York Times: A Bleak Budget Outlook for Public Broadcasters

New York Times: A Bleak Budget Outlook for Public Broadcasters

In less than four weeks, NJN, the public radio and television network owned by New Jersey, will run out of state money to operate. Without a last-minute intervention, its outlets will go off the air on Dec. 31, and NJN’s 130 employees have already received layoff notices.

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Roundtable to Discuss Public Media Reform

Roundtable to Discuss Public Media Reform

To mark the release of Barbara Cochran’s new white paper, Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive, and discuss its implications, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation are hosting a high-level roundtable discussion featuring leaders and critics of public media and policy-makers on [...]

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(De)funding Public Broadcasting in New Jersey

(De)funding Public Broadcasting in New Jersey

As we await the release on Wednesday of Barbara Cochran’s new policy paper, “Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive,” the New York Times today has coverage of the bleak budget outlook facing many public broadcasters.
Public attention has been drawn recently to outrage over NPR’s firing of Juan Williams and subsequent calls by [...]

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Debating the Future of Public Media

Debating the Future of Public Media

The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will release a new policy paper, “Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive,” by Barbara Cochran, the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Missouri, on December 8th.
The conversation about the future shape [...]

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Community + Broadband by Design

Community + Broadband by Design

Sean McLaughlin is a man with a plan for bringing universal broadband to communities in northern California’s Humboldt County. If he has his way, Humboldt County will also have a plan — a new General Plan that includes policies to develop a local communications infrastructure and services that meet the information needs of its residents.
McLaughlin [...]

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