Meeting on Public Accountability in Public Media
Feb 16-17
Convened by the Center for Social Media, American University, Washington, DC
with generous funding from the Ford Foundation
A quiet convening of a group of about 30 leaders in the field: ombudsmen and journalists from various media organizations, general managers from stations, communication scholars, foundation officers, and leaders of citizen groups. The meeting will aim to identify and articulate more public standards of accountability in public media. We'll begin with the proposition that identifying editorial standards for public media should begin with this question:
What does a democratic public require of its public media?
Overview of goals:
to address the politicization of public media, especially with regard to the right’s invocation of fairness and balance in its attempt to “right†public media;
to find ways that public media can move beyond debates about fairness and balance in public broadcasting;
to identify successful, creative approaches to the problems of accountability;
to explore what emerging standards such as transparency and diversity of viewpoints can do;
to identify obstacles to implementing successful approaches;
to find ways these obstacles can be overcome;
to develop core themes for a more public model of accountability and editorial standards.
Draft Agenda
Thursday
9:30-10:30 a.m. Here we go again...
A Brief History of these debates
The Tomlinson Era: We have seen what blind adherence to “balance†can do to public broadcasting—perversely it can bring ideological distortions into the media rather than ensuring that public media is helping the public identify and deliberate on matters of common concern.
10:30-11:30 a.m. What standards does the public require and expect of public media? What the public is saying: Informal Reports from Ombudsmen and other public advocates
11:30-1:15 Lunch Buffet and Kojo Nnamdi program featuring a few of the meeting's participants
1:20-3:30 Toward Real Public Accountability
Emerging Standards of Public Accountability
transparency
engagement
inclusiveness
diversity of viewpoints
Overviews of valiant attempts at developing new standards
PBS's recent rewrite
NPR's editorial standards
Others?
What these new standards mean for the old standards. How do emerging standards -- such as public engagement, transparency, and real diversity -- stack up against objectivity and balance? What's at issue in the debates?
Other ideas for assessing public accountability
Beyond transparency: engagement and diversity
How truly accountable public media would differ, what they would look like
What new, creative ideas can the participants brainstorm to think about these issues? From the range of those analyzing the issue, what views do participants have of what new standards can do?3:30-3:45 Break
3:45-5:00 New Media Issues
As public broadcasters dally with new citizen media, what issues arise in terms of standards and accountability? How can these be addressed?
Friday
9:00-10:30 a.m. Towards a White Paper
What are the outlines of new standards of public accountability? What elements should be featured in a paper emerging from this meeting?
10:30-10:45 a.m. Break
10:45-11:45 a.m. Strategies
How do we take this conversation into the public square? What are the politics that impede change? What are promising ways to change the frame of this recurring debate?
Noon Meeting Concludes, Box lunches available