Joe Paterno, Penn State, Editorial Integrity and Public Broadcasting
Joel Kaplan
January 24, 2012
State College, Penn.—The death of Joe Paterno here this week, so soon after his firing by the Penn State Board of Trustees as a result of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal, has led to a renewed focus on the role the media plays when it comes to covering a local icon like Coach Paterno.
Nowhere is this media soul-searching more acute than at the offices of WPSU, the public television and radio stations serving Central Pennsylvania.
WPSU's offices are on the campus of Penn State. The Penn State Board of Trustees holds its license. Its general manager, Ted Krichels, reports to the university's Vice President for Outreach.
All in all, WPSU, like many public broadcasting outlets, is inextricably tied to the university where it is located, and which also holds its license.
But WPSU radio and television is also a news operation. It must advance the public good by fairly and accurately reporting about local news and events, no matter what the consequences. As WPSU's editorial guidelines and code of ethics states:
"The WPSU news team will choose news items and set priorities for broadcast based on accepted best practices in journalism. Staff will be aware of and guard against inappropriate pressure from non-news personnel. Our programming is not required to advance the Penn State University perspective."
There is no indication that any pressure was brought to bear on WPSU over the Sandusky scandal coverage, but there is a fear inside WPSU that there is a public perception that WPSU is an auxiliary arm of Penn State. Part of that perception could stem from the fact that the broadcasting station is a partner with the University in several endeavors, including production of promotional materials.
Or part of it could be that Patty Satalia, a well-known and well-liked anchor and talk-show host at WPSU-TV served as a moderator during Penn State President Rodney Erickson's road show to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City sponsored by the Penn State alumni association.
These concerns led Mr. Krichels to organize an Editorial Integrity Advisory Committee for WPSU. As part of the committee, Mr. Krichels invited several administrators and faculty from Penn State's well-regarded College of Communications, as well as reporters and producers from WPSU. He also invited the CPB ombudsman to attend the committee's first meeting.
In preparation for the meeting, Mr. Krichels gave his reason why he believes such a committee is necessary:
"Recent events at Penn State have raised the question of what the relationship of a university-licensed public broadcasting station ought to be to its university. This is perhaps complicated by WPSU's strong visibility and presence within the university. In addition to operating public radio and TV stations, and producing programs for local and national distribution, WPSU creates a significant amount of content for use within the university. For example, we have produced the university president's state of the university address, numerous promotional videos for the university's development effort, institutional advancement pieces for various colleges and campuses, not to mention many informational programs for, and in partnership with, faculty and colleges.
"As a result, there can be confusion as to our role at Penn State. When we work with clients, they have editorial control over the final product. When we partner within the university there is often a shared editorial control, and when we are producing content for our own broadcast or distribution within public broadcasting, we maintain editorial control. Beyond production we have programs in our schedule for which we are responsible when they are broadcast on WPSU, but which are produced elsewhere. When, for example, programs critical of Penn State are broadcast, such as This American Life or Allegheny Front, we make the choice to present the programs. That may seem obvious, and no one has ever suggested anything different, and yet, in other situations around the country, that is not always so.
"The recent crisis at Penn State has accentuated the different roles WPSU plays. We have been a conduit for national coverage on PBS and NPR. We have produced our own programs. We have also provided significant university support including: satellite uplinks for the new president, live production of the student forum and New York alumni forum, the upcoming Board of Trustees webcast and support for the PCAR [Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape] initiative on child abuse. "
Mr. Krichels makes the important point that these situations are not unusual given the amount of controversial issues involving academia these days. In fact, there were at least two stories involving Penn State that predated the Sandusky scandal that created similar perceptions of conflicts.
One involved the Marcellus Shale exploration and the role the university played in accepting corporate money to fund its research into gas extraction. It turned out that Penn State had not received significant corporate funding, particularly compared to federal funding, for research into Marcellus Shale, but the perception existed that corporate funding has influenced the research.
The second involved The Princeton Review designating the number-one party school each year. The public radio program This American Life did a long story on Penn State winning that award in 2009, much to the consternation of school administrators.
And Penn State is not the only place where a public broadcasting license is held by a university under fire.
My school, Syracuse University, faced a similar scandal involving assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. WAER is the public broadcasting radio station on the SU campus. The SU Board of Trustees holds its license.
"We had no pressure from the university and no concerns," said WAER general manager Joe Lee. "We have pretty much total control over our editorial policy here. We never hear from the board of trustees."
Mr. Lee did say that because the radio station is considered a university department, it does have to abide by university rules. One of those rules is to ask for permission before outside media can interview its student workers. The station did make that request and it was granted.
Of course the Syracuse and Penn State situations are very different. Syracuse is a private university while Penn State is a public institution. The Penn State public broadcasting licenses involve both radio and television while Syracuse is only for a radio station.
Nevertheless, the situations at both Penn State and Syracuse are bound to be replicated at other universities that hold public broadcasting licenses.
That is why Mr. Krichels' initiative to create an editorial integrity advisory committee is so important and could lead to it being a model for other university-affiliated public broadcast stations.
Several good suggestions came out of this initial meeting, and the group plans to get together again next month.
I plan on continuing to write about what is happening at WPSU throughout this year with the hope it will lead to more transparency and understanding of the role of public media at universities.
