Current.org Blog

APTS trustees approve new membership dues formula based on CSG

2012-02-26T13:01:00.000-05:00

ARLINGTON, Va. – After holding membership dues flat for several years because of the recession, and researching numerous possible revamps of dues calculations, the Association of Public Television Stations will return to its original dues formula, based on a percentage of each pubTV station’s Community Service Grant, beginning with fiscal 2013. The APTS Board of Trustees today (Feb. 26) voted unanimously to adopt a formula based on 2 percent of the CSG, with a phase-in period during which no...

"Downton" Emmy category switch may prompt "TV awards smackdown"

2012-02-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

The hit Edwardian costume drama Downton Abbey from Masterpiece Classic is switching Emmy categories from mini-series to drama, "thereby setting up a fierce TV awards smackdown," according to awards news site Gold Derby, in an exclusive report by Tom O'Neil, author of the books Movie Awards, The Emmys and The Grammys. Last year, O'Neil writes, Downton's Season 1 won best miniseries "over widespread complaints" that it was a drama series "masquerading" as a mini-series in order to avoid...

At NPR, Wilson promoted to chief content officer, Low Smith to senior news v.p.

2012-02-24T09:17:00.009-05:00

NPR President Gary Knell has restructured the news organization's top ranks, elevating digital chief Kinsey Wilson to executive v.p. and chief content officer, and appointing Margaret Low Smith as senior v.p. of news, a job she took on an interim basis last year. When Wilson joined NPR as senior v.p. and general manager of digital media in 2008, the position was parallel to the senior news exec post then held by Ellen Weiss. Knell's restructuring elevates Wilson in NPR's organization chart to...

Oscar nominee "If a Tree Falls" now streaming on P.O.V. website

2012-02-23T14:43:00.000-05:00

The full-length Academy Award-nominated documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, which premiered on P.O.V. last year, is now streaming on the show's website through March 4. The film, exploring environmentalism and terrorism, is up for the documentary feature Oscar this Sunday (Feb. 26). It's a co-production of ITVS, directed by Marshall Curry, and won best documentary editing at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Some 5.4 million viewers watched "Downton" finale, PBS says

2012-02-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

Ratings for the Season 2 finale of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic are in, and the Feb. 19 episode scored the highest numbers for a PBS program since the premiere of Ken Burns’s National Parks in September 2009. An average audience of 5.4 million viewers (a 3.5 Nielsen household rating) watched, not including those viewing through station replays, DVRs or online streaming. On the web, full episodes of Season 2 received 4.8 million views on the PBS Video Portal, an increase of more than...

This Keillor-hosted fundraiser isn't helping public radio

2012-02-23T12:38:00.005-05:00

Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor has never tried to hide his liberal political leanings, but his decision to host a private fundraiser this week for President Obama's reelection campaign has worked the conservative blogosphere into a lather about NPR's political bias. The trouble is, NPR has no control over Keillor or his nationally syndicated weekly program. Neither does Minnesota-based American Public Media Group, which distributes Prairie Home Companion to public radio stations....

NETA, Coca-Cola Bottlers partnering on insurance for pubcasting stations

2012-02-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

The National Educational Telecommunications Association today (Feb. 23) announced that it is offering group health insurance coverage plans to pubcasters, a project it has been working on for several years. So far, 70 licensees, both television and radio, representing nearly 2,900 individuals, are participating in the new initiative. NETA is partnering with the Coca-Cola Bottlers Association to provide the coverage, through that company's Alliance of Professional Service Organizations (APSO)...

Final choices set for U.S. pubmedia selections to INPUT in Sydney

2012-02-22T17:28:00.000-05:00

Official selections have been finalized for the United States public broadcasting content to be screened at INPUT, the annual weeklong international public media showcase, coming in May in Australia. Screening in Sydney May 7-12 will be “Flawed,” the story of a woman’s long-distance relationship with a plastic surgeon, from P.O.V.; “More Than a Month,” about the history of Black History Month, from Independent Lens; “Southern Belle,” which went inside a Civil War historical-reenactment summer...

PBS's first Online Film Festival premiering on Feb. 27

2012-02-22T16:55:00.002-05:00

PBS kicks off its first-ever Online Film Festival on Feb. 27, showcasing 20 short pubmedia films from PBS.org and YouTube over five weeks. Partnering in the project are organizations that make up the pubmedia minority consortia — the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, Native American Public Telecommunications, the National Black Programming Consortium and Pacific Islanders Consortium — as well as the Independent Television Service and P.O.V. The festival will be...

Asendio resigned over ethics dispute with WAMU brass

2012-02-22T15:53:00.009-05:00

Jim Asendio's sudden departure as news director of WAMU in Washington, D.C., was triggered by an internal dispute over his reporters' participation in private meetings with major donors. Asendio objected when he and two journalists from his newsroom were required to participate in a "Meet the Producers" breakfast and panel discussion, which the station hosted this morning (Feb. 22). Involving WAMU reporters in the meeting was an unethical breech of the station's editorial firewall, Asendio...

WFYI denies any link to TV production company approaching local nonprofits

2012-02-22T13:20:00.000-05:00

WFYI in Indianapolis is warning local organizations that it has no ties to Vision Media Television, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based company that says it can produce informational segments about the groups to appear on public television, reports the Indianapolis Business Journal. On its website, Vision Media Television references its relationship with Joan Lunden, but Lunden has posted a warning distancing herself from similar firms on her own website. PBS also includes...

"Downton" helps PBS SoCal reach beyond typical PBS audience

2012-02-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

The massive popularity of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic "couldn't have come at a better time" for KOCE, the new PBS primary station in the Los Angeles market now known as PBS SoCal, writes TV Guide's Michael Schneider at his blog, Franklin Avenue. "Downton Abbey enabled us to reach audiences that are not just the typical PBS audience, including younger people, and gave us a chance to establish ourselves as the area's PBS station," Mel Rogers, station president, told Schneider....

Remembering WJWJ

2012-02-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

The recent announcement that South Carolina ETV was closing WJWJ in Beaufort County due to budget woes prompted this rich reminiscence in the Beaufort Gazette by the paper's former longtime editor, Pete Pillow, who also spent five years as a producer and anchor on WJWJ's weeknight newscast, from 1978 to 1983. "There was no high-def television or satellite reception back then," he recalls. "A special antenna was needed to even get WJWJ's signal. One of our initial tasks was teaching viewers...

News Director Jim Asendio gone from WAMU, staffers told in memo

2012-02-21T17:36:00.001-05:00

WAMU News Director Jim Asendio has left the station, according to an internal station memo posted by the Washington Post. Mark McDonald, program director at the American University licensee in Washington, D.C., told staffers: "Jim has left WAMU. We wish him well in his future endeavors. Meymo Lyons is Acting News Director with immediate effect, and she and I will be working with the newsroom staff to find a replacement for Jim in the coming days and weeks." UPDATE: Journalist Dave Hughes,...

New Hampshire town starting new PEG channel

2012-02-21T11:11:00.000-05:00

While the Alliance for Community Media fights to keep PEG (public, educational and government) channels on the air, there are local bright spots emerging, such as in Exeter, N.H., which is starting a new public-access channel, according to the Exeter News-Letter in Portsmouth. "I think of it as an opportunity for people to be more of a part of their community and to know what is going on," Doug York, the Exeter Public Television coordinator, told the paper. "It can also be a way for people to...

First-ever Prize for Civility in Public Life goes to Brooks and Shields of "PBS NewsHour"

2012-02-21T10:04:00.002-05:00

The inaugural Prize for Civility in Public Life, presented by Allegheny College, a small liberal arts school in Meadville, Pa., goes to PBS NewsHour political commentators David Brooks and Mark Shields. In a column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, college President James H. Mullen Jr. said the school is "launching a quest" to reverse the "rise of incivility in our democracy" with the award, presented today (Feb. 21) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Jim Lehrer, PBS NewsHour...

CPB-backed collaborators release Code of Editorial Integrity for pubmedia

2012-02-20T16:17:00.003-05:00

The Editorial Integrity for Public Media Project has released its Code of Editorial Integrity for Local Public Media Organizations, a set of guidelines intended to serve as an ethical compass for TV and radio stations throughout the system. The Code stems from a joint effort of public TV’s Affinity Group Coalition, which began work on the guidelines two years ago, and public radio’s Station Resource Group, and it draws on guidance from a wide range of stakeholders in public media. “We think...

"Frontline" takes home all four Writers Guild documentary/news awards

2012-02-20T12:19:00.001-05:00

Frontline swept the documentary and news categories of the Writers Guild Awards Sunday (Feb. 19) in Los Angeles, winning all four honors. "Top Secret America," written by Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser, claimed the documentary — current events award; "Wiki Secrets," by Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith, documentary — other than current events; "Educating Sergeant Pantzke," by John Maggio and Martin Smith, news — regularly scheduled, bulletin or breaking report; and "Doctor Hotspot," by Thomas...

"Downton Abbey" shouldn't "go on and on forever," its creator says

2012-02-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

Now that the second season of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic has wrapped up, creator Julian Fellowes took time for a question-and-answer session with the New York Times in which he reveals a few of his fave American TV shows (Mad Man, Sex and the City, Glee) and addresses what all Downton fans are wondering: Just how long will the hit Edwardian costume drama keep going? "Sufficient unto the day," Fellowes said, laughing. "I feel that one can’t really think much beyond that. Although I...

Ira Glass, California Watch reporters win George Polk Awards

2012-02-20T11:37:00.000-05:00

Ira Glass of This American Life is a recipient of a prestigious George Polk Award, announced today (Feb. 20) by Long Island University. Glass won for his reporting on "Very Tough Love," an hour-long piece that showed "alarmingly severe" punishments by a county drug court judge in Georgia, LIU said in a press release. "Drug courts were set up to emphasize rehabilitation instead of incarceration, but Glass’ investigation revealed that Judge Amanda Williams strayed far from the principles and...

Pubradio manager and advocate Tim Emmons dies; was a co-founder of MEGS

2012-02-20T10:58:00.003-05:00

Tim Emmons, who for 15 years has managed Northern Public Radio in DeKalb, Ill., and was a driving force behind the Morning Edition Grad School, died Saturday (Feb. 18) after a long battle with cancer, the station reports. He was 53. Emmons arrived in 1988 as program director at WNIU, licensed to Northern Illinois University, and was instrumental in the creation of WNIJ in 1991. As PD, he hired and supervised a WNIJ news team that won 32 national, regional and state news awards. He left to be...

"Freedom Riders" wins Eddie Award from ACE

2012-02-19T10:59:00.000-05:00

The American Experience film Freedom Riders won for best edited documentary at the Eddie Awards presented by American Cinema Editors Saturday night (Feb. 18) in Los Angeles. Here's a complete list of nominees, which also included Downton Abbey from Masterpiece Classic.

WUIS classical host retiring after 30 years

2012-02-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

Karl Scroggin, classical music host at WUIS in Springfield, Ill., is retiring after a 30-year career that included, according to the State Journal-Register, assisting mezzo-soprano opera singer Marilyn Horne claim $600 in slot-machine winnings. Yes, you read that correctly. Years ago at an Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio conference in Las Vegas, Scroggin came across Horne at the Golden Nugget. "I said, ‘Marilyn, did you win some money?’ She said, ‘Yes, I won $600 on this slot...

Chicago News Cooperative reportedly folding on Feb. 26

2012-02-18T23:21:00.002-05:00

The Chicago News Cooperative will cease publishing content on Feb. 26, the Chicago Reader reports, due in part to a delay in a crucial MacArthur Foundation grant. The Internal Revenue Service has yet to decide if CNC and similar web news operations are 501(c)(3) nonprofits; CNC has been receiving funding via its fiscal agent, pubstation WTTW. But recently a MacArthur staff attorney advised the foundation that until the IRS ruled, MacArthur grants should go to specific programs instead of...

APTS pleased with spectrum legislation, but challenges loom

2012-02-18T11:12:00.005-05:00

There’s good news for pubcasters in the legislation giving the FCC spectrum auction authority that passed this week in Congress — but many questions remain, and serious technical challenges lie ahead as spectrum is reallocated and repacked to provide more bandwidth for wireless devices. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. “Overall, we’re feeling pretty good about how it came out,” Lonna Thompson, c.o.o. of the Association of Public Television Stations, told Current. “We...