CPB Seeks Help in Defining Balance

CPB SEEKS HELP IN DEFINING BALANCE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
At a Media Institute lunch in Washington on Monday, Patricia Harrison, president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, says the CPB has sought outside help --including from the Carnegie Corp. and the deans of several journalism schools -- to "define journalistic objectivity and balance on public broadcasting." She also says she is concerned that the FCC's crackdown on content could chill the kind of creative programming CPB is chartered to encourage. Harrison made it clear that it was not her job to define balance and reiterated the importance of the firewall between the government and PBS programmers. "I'm not coming up with a definition," she said. "That's not my job. That is why one of the ways to go is to have this discussion [with journalism schools and others]." She said her opinion of what is balanced and objective is worthless, saying that where "you get in trouble" is thinking of that call as an individual approach. She said she did not know what the outcome would be, but that "sitting down and having the conversation" about whether "in the aggregate, over 40 years, are these programs balanced and objective," is a conversation worth having. She also said studies show that "public media consumers already believe noncommercial TV is nonpartisan and unbiased. Pointing to CPB's statutorily mandated goal of balance on controversial issues, she suggested one of the gray areas was blogging. She pointed to Minnesota Public Radio which is encouraging citizen journalists. "Are they under the same requirements for fairness and balance? Do they count as journalists?"
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