Lehrer calls for PBS, NPR to invest more in news

The heads of PBS, NPR, Minnesota-based American Public Media and others gathered in Washington to discuss the most serious threats in Congress to their federal funding in 44 years.

Public Broadcasting Service anchor Jim Lehrer told public broadcasters that they must continue to defend their federal funding and raise more money to meet an increasing need for serious journalism as commercial newspapers and broadcasters see declines. Lehrer said public media needs to produce more local news and serious journalism because other channels are being used to "tease and to entertain and only to inform across the surface." "I have a good source on why this is a problem. The source is Thomas Jefferson," Lehrer said. "Thomas Jefferson told the folks back when this country was founded that the only way this democratic society we just created is going to work is if there is an informed electorate." Interim NPR chief executive Joyce Slocum said the Washington-based public radio network has rebounded from the controversy over its management. "Our journalism has not missed a beat," she said. Executive Editor Dick Meyer said NPR is working on a project to place two reporters in every state capital across the country through its Impact of Government initiative. "It's an area where commercial media is retreating with Custer-like force," Meyer said. Some PBS stations also are starting new local news programs, including WNET-TV in New York, which plans to launch its MetroFocus program online this summer and eventually on television.