Table Of ContentPublic
Broadcasting
and the
Public
Interest
MEDIA, COMMUNICATION, AND CULTURE IN AMERICA
Michael C. Keith and Donald A. Fishman, Series Editors
WAVES OF RANCOR
Tuning in the Radical Right
Robert L. Hilliard and Michael C. Keith
SCREENED OUT
How the Media Control Us and What We Can Do About It
Carla Brooks Johnston
DISCONNECTED AMERICA
The Consequences of Mass Media in a Narcissistic World
Ed Shane
QUEER AIRWAVES
The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting
Phylis Johnson and Michael C. Keith
INVISIBLE STARS
A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting
Donna L. Halper
PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST
Michael P. McCauley, Eric E. Peterson, B. Lee Artz, and
DeeDee Halleck
Public
Broadcasting
and the
Public
Interest
Michael P. McCauley,
Eric E. Peterson,
B. Lee Artz,
and DeeDee Halleck
Editors
I~ ~~o~;~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2003 by M.E. Sharpe
Published 20 15 by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2003 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
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Notices
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Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Public broadcasting and the public interest I edited by Michael P. McCauley ... [et al.].
p. cm.-(Media, communication, and culture in America)
Conference papers.
Includes bibliographical reference and index.
ISBN 978-0-7656-0990-8 (alk. paper)-ISBN 978-0-7656-0991-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Public Broadcasting-United States. 2. Broadcasting policy-United States. 3. Public
interest-United States. 4. Political participation-United States. 5. Democracy-United
States. I. McCauley, Michael P., 1958- II. Series.
HE8700.8 .P824 2003
384.54'0973-dc21 2002070712
ISBN 13: 9780765609915 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780765609908 (hbk)
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Series Foreword by Michael Keith ix
Foreword by Dan Schiller xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction XV
Part I. Defining the Public Media Terrain
1. Introduction
B. LeeArtz 3
2. Public Broadcasting: Past, Present, and Future
Robert W. McChesney 10
3. Brand New World? Globalization, Cyberspace, and the
Politics of Convergence
Vincent Mosco 25
4. The PBS Brand and the Merchandising of Public Service
William Haynes 41
5. The FCC and the Public Interest: A Selective Critique of
U.S. Telecommunications Policy-Making
Robert K. Avery and Alan G. Stavitsky 52
6. Pacifica Radio's Crisis of Containment
Matthew Lasar 62
Part II. Critical Dimensions
7. Introduction
Eric E. Peterson 71
8. The Public and Its Problems: Race, Class, and Media Access
B. Lee Artz 77
9. Advertising on Public Television: A Look at PBS
Judi Puritz Cook 85
10. Should One Size Fit All Audiences? A Study of KUOP
Mary E. Hurley 95
11. DBS and the Public Interest Opportunity in
Satellite Television
Steve Pierce 110
12. Making Money and Serving the Public Interest:
Public Broadcasting Can and Should Do Both
Gary P. Poon 127
Part III. Global Perspectives
13. Introduction
Michael P. McCauley 141
14. The CBC and the Public Interest: Maintaining
the Mission in an Era of Media Concentration
Ira Basen 147
15. Public Broadcasting, the Information Society, and
the Internet: A Paradigm Shift?
Amit M. Schejter 158
16. Between Globalization and Democratization:
Governmental Public Broadcasting in Africa
Lyombe S. Eko 175
17. Canadians Connected and Unplugged: Public Access
to the Internet and the Digital Divide
Vanda Rideout 192
Part IV. Where Do We Go from Here: Civic Space,
Cyber Market, Public Trust, or Grassroots Alternatives?
18. Introduction
DeeDee Halleck 207
19. Social Capital, Civic Space, and the Digital Revolution:
Emerging Strategies for Public Broadcasting
Barry Dornfeld 215
20. Resisting the Market Model of the Information Highway
Sandra Smeltzer and Leslie Regan Shade 226
21. Public Television in the Digital Age: Town Hall or
Cyber Mall?
Jerold M. Starr 238
22. The Grassroots Radio Movement in the United States
Marty Durlin and Cathy Melio 252
23. Microradio: A Tool for Community Empowerment
Andrea Cano 265
About the Editors and Contributors 277
Index 279
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
4.1 Public Broadcasting System Revenues, 1982-1999 44
4.2 Member Contributions to Public Television Stations,
1989-1999 45
9.1 Underwriting and Genre 90
9.2 Underwriting and Business Category 91
10.1 Sample Statistics 98
10.2 LEWF and Program Streamlining at KUOP from 1996
to August 17, 1998 99
I 0.3 Audience Characteristics by Network or Local
Program Preference I 0 1
10.4 Audience Characteristics by News or Musical
Program Preference 103
Figures
9.1 Frequency of Underwriting Spots at Different Times
of the Day 89
11.1 Early Direct Broadcast Satellite Dish 113
11.2 "The Deep Dish Process" 116
17.1 Percentage of Canadians Using the Internet in the Past
Three Months 197
17.2 Where Did You Use an Internet Account in the Past
Three Months? 199
vii
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Series Foreword
Public radio and television are the premier broadcast services in America
and have been for three decades. In an age when the majority of commercial
radio stations program pop music and inane babble, and commercial televi
sion outlets air mind-numbing "sick-corns" and reality shows about dys
functional households, public broadcasting has consistently offered intelligent
and compelling features. It has kept the electronic media from drowning in
the morass of fast-food audio and video spewed from the nearly 12,000 spot
driven signals on the radio and television bands. While commercial radio
and television have had their share of shining moments in the post-World
War II era, it has been public broadcasting that has upheld, and in many
cases exceeded, the standards attained during radio's much heralded heyday
of the 1930s and 1940s and television's golden age of the 1950s and 1960s,
when creativity and innovation were allowed more than an occasional excur
sion into the ether. As the blanding of the commercial radio dial accelerates
today due to rampant station consolidations and downsizings-the result of
the elimination of ownership caps in 1996-the service that public radio
provides its loyal audience becomes an even more precious commodity. This
new book by Michael P. McCauley, Eric E. Peterson, B. Lee Artz, and DeeDee
Halleck, an appropriate and valuable addition to the series, seeks to examine
the unique role of electronic media in American society and culture. More
over, it addresses issues central to public broadcasting's continued existence
as a public trustee in an age when the government funding it relies on is
rapidly diminishing and other new and evolving listening and viewing tech
nologies, such as the Internet and direct broadcast satellite, compete with the
traditionaJ airwaves. In these insightful chapters, public broadcasting is care
fully and thoughtfully examined and in the process its value as a communica
tion medium is challenged, ratified, and confirmed yet again.
Michael Keith
Boston College
ix
