Media Institute, Washington, DC
April 19, 2007
Thank you, John. It is great to see you here as well as our partner in public broadcasting, Paula Kerger.
Paula and John's leadership make such a difference for public broadcasting.
I want to thank the Media Institute for inviting me to be part of your meeting today.
When I said yes, I had no idea that this was the week I would be appearing before chairman Obey's subcommittee to make the case for public broadcasting's budget, or the week I would be hosting hundreds of public broadcasting station managers and their boards of directors in CPB's first ever station board conference.
But since I have just described what passes for a typical week for Paula and John and most of you in Washington, I am not complaining.
In fact, I welcome every opportunity to talk about public service media.
This is an important group and representing the Corporation for public broadcasting, I can identify fully with the Media Institute's three goals:
- free speech;
- a competitive media; and
- communications industry excellence,
For our time together, I thought I would talk about why public broadcasting is vital to our civil society, how we are relevant in a multiplatform world and the challenges ahead.
I have served in the position of CEO and president for 18 months.
Usually when I leave one job to start another, the world little notes or cares.
This time it was different.
On July 1, I left the State Department and on July fifth, I joined CPB.
And four days later I was testifying before congress.
My mother's response to the televised grilling: well, your hair looked good.
This was followed by a request from congress to the office of the Inspector General to take a look at CPB governance.
So my immediate focus was putting in place long term and sustainable measures that spoke to transparency, good governance and best practices.
We did this through an initiative called Project Champion which represented every department in CPB and today guides both board and management.
Several months later, the Inspector General in his report said:
"We are encouraged that the Board of Directors and the CEO have taken such a comprehensive approach, often exceeding the scope of our recommendations to evaluate major CPB processes."
One of the Inspector General's recommendations dealt with our statutory responsibilities regarding objectivity and balance.
The statute requires us to facilitate the availability of "programs of high quality, diversity, creativity, excellence, and innovation, which are obtained from diverse sources . . . with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs series of programs of a controversial nature."
At the same time, we are to assure "maximum freedom of the public telecommunications entities and systems from interference with, or control of, program content or other activities" -- the very important firewall of independence for film-makers and broadcasters.
The Inspector General reported that we did not have any procedures for carrying out our objectivity and balance mandate.
Although we do have an ombudsman and through our publication, "Open to the Public," we report to congress annually regarding all comments that we receive regarding programming.
But, CPB does not have power to impose balance and objectivity. Rather it is a set of goals, not a standard legally enforced. . .
So, in order to comply with the directive from the inspector General, the CPB board is seeking outside guidance on next steps. . .
They have been in contact with the deans of nine schools of journalism that comprise the so-called "Carnegie Circle" about working with CPB and the public broadcasting system on defining journalistic objectivity and balance in public broadcasting, while we ensure that firewall stands strong.
We will be continuing these discussions with an eye towards convening more formal meetings with these journalism deans and public broadcasters at some point down the road, consulting with APTS, NPR and PBS along the way.
This concept is still in its infancy, it could result in a white paper, a colloquium or an endowed chair at a university.
But we believe working with these prestigious schools of journalism will provide us with a thoughtful environment in which to discuss this issue and fulfill the statute.
But I should point out, that all studies and surveys, show that consumers of public media already believe we are a non-partisan and unbiased source of information
And constantly list us as one of the most trusted forms of media.
That is why it came as a bit of a shock to the trusted system when the FCC levied a fine on television station KCSM (San Mateo, CA) of $15,000 for airing the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary the "Blues: Godfathers and Sons."
As all of you certainly know, just like their commercial counterparts, all noncommercial broadcasters are bound by restrictions on the broadcast of indecent material.
However, common sense could dictate that there is a world of difference between the casual and gratuitous use of profanity in a run-of-the-mill sitcom script, as opposed to its contextual use in a documentary like the "Blues" or in the upcoming Ken Burns film on World War II.
As the FCC has said, "we must always look to the context in which words or images occur to determine whether they are indecent . . ."
But my mission is to invest in and encourage creative programming which inspires, educates and entertains, and to ensure our reach to unserved and under served audiences. . .
So, I am concerned that this kind of penalty will have a chilling effect on stations. Especially those with little resources -- and that describes most of them.
An FCC fine could be crippling on several levels. Of course, monetarily but also as a cautionary warning to future documentary film makers.
Almost censorship before the fact.
This is a serious issue and Kevin Martin is a smart and serious person so I am very hopeful about resolving concerns.
Speaking of Kevin, he is the 11th most important person on the internet, according to PC World.
The quote was: "He may look innocent and unassuming, but he's arguably the most powerful bureaucrat on the Web."
I continue to be guided by what American essayist E.B. White wrote in a now famous letter to the Carnegie commission in 1966 regarding the mission of public broadcasting.
He wrote: "Non–commercial TV should address itself to the ideal of excellence, not the idea of acceptability, which is what keeps commercial TV from climbing the staircase. . . I think TV should be providing the visual counterpart of the literary essay, should arouse our dreams, satisfy our hunger for beauty, take us on journeys, enable us to participate in events, present great drama and music, explore the sea and the sky and the woods and the hills. It should be our lyceum, our Chautaqua, our Minsky's and our Camelot."
I love the E.B. White quote. I have it on the wall at the entrance to CPB's office.
It is a perspective of public service media that guides me as CPB looks at the future and a world of multiple channels.
What has not changed since White wrote those words in 1966 is that we are still committed to climbing that staircase of excellence.
For forty years, some of America's finest hours have been on public television and radio and those hours represent an Appreciating asset for the American people.
In my former position as Assistant Secretary of State, I was given an incredible opportunity to see our country from the perspective of the men and women coming here on educational, professional and cultural exchanges.
To a person, no matter where they came from they could not believe how much Americans volunteer.
They came to this country with such a negative view of who we are as a people, all defined by commercial television shows, movies, headlines and popular music.
But in the process of meeting with people just like you, staying in their homes, meeting their families, our exchange visitors return to their own countries with a very different view not just of us but of themselves.
I believe that the American DNA and our best export is our commitment to volunteering, to helping one another, building our communities.
So I was pleased when I joined CPB to find out that the real story of public broadcasting happens beyond the broadcast and involves thousands of volunteers giving both time and money.
My connection to public media was as a consumer of NPR and PBS programs.
At one point my children were watching so much Masterpiece theatre I was concerned they would soon be speaking with British accents.
But I had no real understanding of public media's service to the public on a grassroots level.
I didn't know that the public broadcasting story went beyond programs -- that it is not just about helping young people read but helping that immigrant mother learn English along with her children;
Or through Kentucky Educational Television helping one million people country-wide get their high school diplomas;
Not just showing a documentary such as "country boys" about youth at risk in Appalachia, but letting viewers know how they can help at risk kids right now.
And those viewers wanted to help so much four thousand of them overwhelmed the WGBH Web site.
Not just public affairs programs where you can listen to opinion leaders debate the issue but a place where viewers and listeners share their own thoughts through programs such as "Politics and a Pint," "This I Believe" and "StoryCorps."
What I found as I visited stations from Puerto Rico to Alaska is that public broadcasting provides a binding and affirmative link to the community.
The stations, locally owned and operated, reflect through their volunteers, advisory boards and individual contributors, the needs and interests of the community.
So for example, if you live in Wisconsin and watch Wisconsin public television, you get, in addition to the great PBS programs, the following:
"Potato Farmers," a show examining how Wisconsin potato farmers are world leaders in using environmentally friendly models of farming.
Or another program, "Meth in Wisconsin," reporting on the Meth epidemic. This honest and helpful documentary will be used as a teaching tool in Wisconsin schools.
Don't worry. . .
I am not going to take you state by state.
But it is safe to say you would never find any of these programs on commercial television -- they are not commercial.
They appeal to the viewer as a citizen and not as a consumer.
Through each one of these programs and hundreds like them, people are getting the help and information and education and cultural programs they need.
And now we are -- through the benefit of technology -- reaching our current and new audiences not where we last saw them sitting, but where they are in real time, with the content they want when they want it.
Face it, as someone said; we are living at a time when even instant gratification takes too long.
And, you know, when the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences creates an Emmy for outstanding original programming for computers, cell phones and other Hand held devices, the tectonic plates have shifted and they are never going back.
I appreciate the comment made by Sir Howard Stringer, the head of SONY who also served as chairman on the board of the American Film Institute.
He said: "Don’t hold onto the status quo . . . after the quo has lost its status."
Public media has to and is managing change but it is a challenge as analog goes away in February of 2009.
So when I am asked do you think public media is relevant in a five hundred channel world, I can answer, we are more relevant than ever before whether it is 500 or 1000.
This is largely because the mission of public media is evergreen. . .
It is to serve the American people in a way that enhances their lives now . . . relevant in terms of interests, technology and content.
It is our content that differentiates us from commercial offerings and that is why we are still, as I mentioned earlier, viewed as the most trusted form of media.
Our programs are not one size fits all. They can be stimulating, moving or sometimes just very difficult to watch or LISTEN to because of the subject matter.
Recently we heard Sam Harmon on "StoryCorps" on NPR's "Morning Edition" talk about his experience decades ago as an African-American soldier serving his country during World War II.
He was on leave and wanted to take his young son to a movie but was turned away when he tried to buy a ticket in segregated Washington, DC.
As he told the story, it was clear that the passage of time failed to diminish the pain that he and we all felt about his quiet remembrance.
CPB has just invested in an extension of the "StoryCorps" initiative which is focusing on African-American lives, recording the stories of veterans and civil rights leaders as well as people from all walks of life.
This will be the biggest initiative to collect oral histories from African-Americans since the Federal Writers Project in the 1930's.
As ken burns said, there are no ordinary lives. Everyone has a worthy story and only public radio and television recognizes this worth.
And where else but in public television would you have six commercially uninterrupted hours dedicated to telling the stories of families who share a common and tragic connection -- each have a child with cancer.
Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, whose daughter succumbed to cancer at the age of nine, launched this film on the hill and said:
"A lion in the house has the potential to save lives, to educate, to provide hope and that is quite a lot for one documentary series."
Or consider our groundbreaking series, "America at a Crossroads," which will air six consecutive nights beginning April 15 and will examine the challenges and opportunities facing America and the world in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
We believe these broadcasts will be a significant moment in American television history. WETA, our producing station, is providing venues for the crossroads filmmakers to engage with audiences and they are talking to standing room only audiences throughout the country engaging people in dialogue, raising the level of national debate on this important issue.
This is groundbreaking television. In fact, when you hear the words groundbreaking and television together, you can be sure it is public television.
As we look ahead, we are working with PBS and the department of education, as part of a long-term investment in the education of our youngest low-income children through programs that help them read and measure the results.
But there is another audience that is underserved when it comes to quality programming and that is the nation's middle and high school students.
Ken Burns told us he felt compelled to create his series on World War II when he learned that a majority of American high school students believed we fought on the side of the Germans against the Russians during the Second World War.
We are launching an American History and Civics Initiative so that our middle and high school students can have a better grasp of our nation’s story, our political system and the evolvement of our civil society.
Because lets face it, voting for one singer over another through "American Idol" does not constitute civic engagement.
Through our History and Civics Initiative, we will get content to this audience through their cell phones, iPods, Game Boys, computers or whatever their choice of connection.
We must reach the successor generation with the education they need to succeed and we believe this series will provide us with a template for a series on math and science.
This brings me to the biggest challenge facing public television and it is funding.
The annual federal investment in public media amounts to approximately $1.50 per taxpayer.
15 percent from the government and the stations raise the other 85 percent from their communities.
This is the best example of a public private partnership there is and should be supported in a sustainable way.
Public media provides a safe place where children can and do learn, a place where listeners and viewers can continue their education, a place where people can engage and discuss issues beyond a sound bite.
I believe that public service media is a national treasure and we want to ensure the treasure is there for future generations.
To do that, we have to do a better job telling the public broadcasting story of proven benefits to our democracy -- a trusted source for parents, for teachers, for people looking for a lifeline of information and help.
I look forward to working with the Media Institute as we tell this story.
Thank you.