A last chance to fix CPB

[Commentary] Following the controversy over Juan Williams' firing at National Public Radio, several conservatives have begun calling for the federal defunding of NPR, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Such rough justice might make for a good sound bite, but it's neither easy nor wise to do.

Remember that publicly funded broadcasters are supposed to be independent of political interference; that independence is of great value to the public radio and public television journalists who cover our government and events in other nations. As other news networks reduce their coverage of national and international events, public broadcasting is our source for more. The question that Congress needs to address is not whether the national providers of public programming should be shut down. It's how to reform the legislation that created these institutions, given the changing media landscape.

Decisions need to be made as to how the online public broadcasting site should function. Can it put emerging stories immediately up on their web sites without meeting the standards to which news and information on public radio or television is held? Can public broadcasters continue to provide the opportunity for "citizen journalists" to post their opinions on a public broadcasting site? What standards need to be met and who will be held accountable for implementation of these standards? What will be the consequence of non-compliance?

[Halpern was hair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2005 to 2007]