Current

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along party lines Aug 1 to change long-standing guidelines related to cable franchising fees. The modifications detrimentally affect one of educational media’s great unsung heroes, Public, Educational and Government access television and radio stations nationwide. The effects of the FCC’s decision will go beyond PEG stations. The new rules, which will take effect in Sept, will allow cable companies to assign market values to benefits and charge the amount back to local communities in most cases.

Public broadcasters are reacting with disappointment to a Federal Communications Commission decision that will give cellular providers access to a swath of spectrum previously reserved for use by educational entities. The FCC’s July 10 vote affects the Educational Broadband Service spectrum, a portion of the 2.5 GHz band that the commission designated for noncommercial use in 1962.

A coalition of top public broadcast organizations formally withdrew a recommendation that the Federal Communications Commission ease equal employment opportunity requirements for public stations. America’s Public Television Stations, National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service recommended the review in a joint response to the commission’s request for comments on its agenda to modernize media regulations. After supporters of the EEO rules objected last week, the organizations formally withdrew it.

Petitions with more than 660,000 signatures to save the Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding will be presented to Congress March 21 after a rally for parents and kids near the Capitol. The event is sponsored by five advocacy organizations including the progressive hub MoveOn.org, media reformer Free Press and ParentsTogether Action, a family issues nonprofit. PBS is not a co-sponsor. The petitions urge members of Congress to reject President Donald Trump’s initial budget proposal, which calls for zeroing out of CPB funding.

Trump’s decision to end CPB support “was expected from a president who believes the media are enemies of the American people,” Free Press CEO Craig Aaron said. “But members of Congress should do themselves a favor by listening to the voices of their many constituents. These people believe in overwhelmingly numbers that support for NPR and PBS programming, including PBS Kids, is taxpayer money well spent.”

America’s Public Television Stations recognized several public broadcasting leaders with awards and honored two members of Congress for their advocacy on behalf of the system. Sens Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) each received the Champion of Public Broadcasting award, which recognizes political leaders and others who protect the ability of local public TV stations to provide education, public safety and civic leadership services.

“Senator Blunt’s extraordinary leadership has been instrumental in ensuring that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, our new interconnection system, and the highly effective Ready To Learn preschool education program have been fully funded in the Senate Appropriations Bill each year of his chairmanship,” said Patrick Butler, president of APTS. Of Sen Leahy, Butler said the senator’s longtime commitment to public broadcasting has helped to secure federal funding over the past four decades. “We are particularly grateful for his championship of the Rural Digital Program that helped ensure the delivery of our programming and services to all the people of Vermont and to millions of rural Americans nationwide,” Butler said.

[Commentary] The use of public airwaves has always come with public obligations. But nobody seems to be asking what the people are getting back in the deal. Whatever happened to “enlightenment of all the people”? Imagine if instead of cashing out, these station owners invested a significant portion of the auction revenue in a public fund to confront the crisis in journalism and support responsive local news, serious investigative reporting and public and community media of all kinds. What if they used the money to set up cutting-edge investigative newsrooms in cities across the country? Or built new tools to help the public sort through data and public records? Or leveraged it to support community-engagement efforts to attract and grow new and diverse audiences? What if we saw the auction as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reinvent public media and safeguard journalism’s future?

That’s how we see it at Free Press, and that’s why we’ve launched a new campaign — starting in New Jersey — to build the public pressure and political will needed to redirect and reinvest some of the spectrum-auction money to meet community-information needs.

[Craig Aaron is the president and CEO of Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund. ]

The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States promises sweeping change in Washington (DC), and members of the public broadcasting community are naturally asking what that may mean for us. Let’s start with what hasn’t changed.

Three powerful congressional chairmen who support public broadcasting will continue in their key roles in both the House and Senate. Sen Thad Cochran (R-MI), a champion of public broadcasting since his father served as chairman of the Mississippi Public Broadcasting Commission in the 1960s, continues as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen Roy Blunt (R-MO), who has helped us secure funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ready To Learn and our updated interconnection system, continues as chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, which oversees funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Rep Tom Cole (R-OK), who accepted the America’s Public Television Stations’ Champion of Public Broadcasting award at the Public Media Summit earlier in 2016 and has been an effective advocate for our federal funding, continues to lead the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education. In addition, the Republican majorities in Congress will retain the same leaders.