NEW: Why OPB is NOT Public Television and What We Can Do About It. The essence of our position, a request for re-visioning OPB, presented to the governing board, June 5, 2001.
NEW: EDITORIAL - Prime Time for Public Broadcasting: Op Ed from The Oregonian 3/10/01. Loren Sears encourages citizens to get involved with bringing better public television to OPB.
NEW: AIR WARS - The Fight to Reclaim Public Broadcasting: by Jerold Starr of CIPB. A detailed account of the Pittsburg public television scandal and how citizen action there and elsewhere is striving to reclaim public television for the public. A good primer for anyone wanting an overview of the battlefield.
1. Public Television For Sale: William Hoynes' 1994 book (subtitled: Media, the Market, and the Public Sphere) on the diversion of public television is still one of the definitive texts on the matter. Scott London's concise review states the main arguments. Read this then locate the book.
2. The Public Is Secondary On Public TV: "Across the country, PBS stations are in denial. And if we think the programming they provide is worthy of the name 'public television,' then maybe we're in denial, too." Norman Solomon's syndicated columns often deal with public broadcast issues (see more of Norman's columns.)
3. Who Needs Public Broadcasting? Declaring public television and radio "cultural redundancy" George Will advocates Republican congressmen pulling the plug on CPB altogether. Since its roll is now largely duplicative of commercially available and commercially viable broadcasters, why do we need publicly supported broadcasting at all? Duh!
4. Local Programming Crumbles At WGBH, Boston: "Thirty years ago, the Carnegie Commission called for establishing the Public Broadcasting Service on a 'bedrock of localism.' Today, at WGBH and most public television stations, that bedrock has crumbled to sand. Local programming, says former PBS president Lawrence Grossman, is 'one of the gigantic failures of public television.' "
5. Public Broadcasting Sells (Out?): an article by James Ledbetter in The Nation magazine, December 1, 1997, concerning entrepreneurism in public broadcasting, particularly the stores created to sell toys, games, videos and books featuring characters and shows seen on public television.
6. Brought to You By...The Death of Public Television in the United States: excerpts from the book by James Ledbetter, columnist for The Village Voice, 1997. Essentially a history of public television, its funding and the political battles for its control.
7. Public Interest Obligations of Digital Broadcasters: Summary of the Gore Commission report, December 1998, recommending various service and financial obligations in return for the gigabuck giveaway of public spectrum to broadcasters. Will we ever see such obligations imposed? The Benton Foundation is tracking it.
8. Programming Survey, OPB Television, October 1998: one week of OPB TV analyzed for program type and national/local origination.
9. Local Programming Discussion: arguments and recommendations, submitted by Loren Sears to the OPB Community Advisory Board for discussion January, 1999. These topics were barely discussed and all but one voted down by the CAB in Spring 2000.
10. Community Advisory Boards: the United States Telecommunications Code which enables Community Service Grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, mandating and describing the Community Advisory Board. Title 47 USC 396 (k) 8.
11. Cultural Politics in Contemporary American: excerpts from the book edited by Ian Angus and Sut Jhally,1989. "The Political Economy of Culture" and "The Privatization and Transnationalization of Culture" are two of the more relevant articles.
12. Memo to the OPB Board: from Michael Munk, retired Rutgers University professor of political science, now returned to Oregon, addressing the search for regional identity and public broadcasting's role.
13. Preserving the Noncommercial Character of Public Television in the Digital Age: from the website of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm specializing in public media issues.
14. OPB/CAB Community Leader Survey of Public Services: completed in March 2000, this is a summary of prominent ("community leader") respondents concerning their perceptions of OPB programming services. General conclusions are: little diversity, lack of community & ethnically relevant programming.
15. Community Service Grant Certification Rules: OPB does not quite follow these guidelines. It is the basis for part of our protest to CPB.
This web site is always in progress. Please check back frequently for new information. Updated 6/7/01