Editorial Integrity for Public Media
Joel Kaplan
November 1, 2011
A group of public broadcasting leaders, academics and journalists met last week in Madison, Wisconsin as part of a roundtable discussion on emerging recommendations for public broadcasting stations across the United States.
The discussions centered upon a number of working-group draft reports dealing with the principles, policies and practices for public broadcasting. Among the discussions was an attempt to develop a code of transparency for public media. Another discussion focused upon funding and firewalls; that is, how to insure that the agenda of public media funders do not influence the programs that are being funded.
The meeting comes at a critical time for public media, when many are questioning the integrity and objectivity of publicly funded radio and television stations and their corresponding websites.
Both the working-group draft reports and the roundtable discussions were funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and sponsored by the Affinity Group Coalition, which represents more than 90 percent of the public television licensee community; the National Educational Telecommunications Association; and the Station Resource Group, whose 40 members operate more than 200 public broadcasting stations.
Three of the working groups have finished their draft reports. They can be found at http://pmintegrity.org/index.cfm and deal with the principles of public media; editorial transparency; and funding and firewalls. The three remaining working- group drafts include editorial partnerships; fundraising transparency; and employees' activities beyond their public media employers. Those should be completed by the end of this year.
The last report is particularly timely given the controversy last week over NPR's decision to sever ties with Lisa Simeone, the host of World of Opera and Soundprint, because of her role as an unofficial spokesperson for the Occupy DC protest movement. Additionally, All Things Considered host Michele Norris has taken a leave from her role on the program after her husband took a job with the Obama campaign.
During last week's roundtable discussion much was made of the importance of transparency, with some offering the suggestion that transparency could become the new objectivity. But most in the group believe that the statutory requirements of objectivity and balance should co-exist with the idea of transparency.
One of my strong beliefs as the CPB ombudsman is to take advantage of the powers of digital media to require public broadcasters to become more transparent. Among some of that working group's recommendations are to post entire interviews when an interview is edited for broadcast; to webcast story meetings twice a year so that audiences can gain a sense of the station's decision-making process; and to disclose all of the grant funding sources on its website. There was an additional suggestion that local public radio and television stations consider hiring their own ombudsmen from nearby journalism school faculty to perform the same duties currently done by the NPR, PBS and CPB ombudsmen.
Not all the suggestions came with unanimous agreement. Some of the public broadcasters worried about the time and expense associated with a webcast of editorial meetings, particularly if few viewers or listeners actually watch it. Others were concerned that confidential sources might inadvertently be revealed.
Still, the consensus was that developing a code of transparency that also contains editorial standards is a noble effort and one that has a great deal of urgency attached to it.
Overseeing the development of the working groups and the draft reports are Tom Thomas, co-CEO of the Station Resource Group, an alliance of leading public media organizations focused on strategy, policy, and innovation; and Byron Knight, Emeritus Director of Broadcasting and Media Innovations at the University of Wisconsin-Extension. Mr. Thomas can be reached at tthomas@srg.org and Mr. Knight can be reached at beknight@wisc.edu.
I urge you to read the draft reports on the pmintegrity website and provide feedback and suggestions to Mr. Thomas, Mr. Knight or me.