Public media junior staff question ability of senior managers to manage digital and social media platforms

WASHINGTON – Senior managers in U.S. public media and millennial junior staff members share almost identical visions of the transition from broadcasting to digital platforms over the next ten years, according to a new survey presented at today's CCLP forum here. But the same survey shows more than 40% of the younger staff members are not confident that senior managers know what they are doing in digital media. The senior managers and junior staff were very close in their projections of the shift from broadcasting in 2013 to digital in 2023, "within a few percentage points" according to Mark Fuerst,……

Webcast – Public Media Futures: The Future of Media Leadership

On June 14, 2013 at 9 a.m. EDT/6 a.m. PDT USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, in partnership with the American University School of Communication presents the fifth installment of Public Media Futures Forum. The latest in an ongoing series of Public Media Futures forums will spotlight, "The Future of Media Leadership." The June 14th roundtable discussion, "Public Media Futures: The Future of Media Leadership," will be hosted by the USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy in conjunction with the American University's School of Communication, publisher of Current. The event will broadcast live on USTREAM: (9……

Webcast: Public Media Futures Forum (San Francisco, CA)

The USC Center for Communication Leadership & Policy proudly presents the fourth in a series of forums on the future of public broadcasting – and the first one in San Francisco – on Thursday morning, September 20, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon PST…….

CCLP public media futures forum (part III) , “Understanding Revenue Potential”

On July 10, 2012 at 9 PT/Noon ET USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, in partnership with the American University School of Communication presents the third installment of Public Media Futures Forum at the University of Washington. The third installment of Public Media Future's focuses in on the question: "What are the revenue development opportunities of the next decade?" The previous forums successfully focused on innovations in public media business models featuring the industry's leading public media executives. For a previous account of the forum, click here. Virtual participants are encouraged to tune in and interact with the……

Watch Geoffrey Cowan – The Play Top Secret in China

Watch CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan lead a lecture on his award winning play, "Top Secret" recently published on YouTube February 28th, 2012. The play won the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Gold Medal for Excellence in Best Live Entertainment and was recently performed in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai before packed auditoriums. In some instances Cowan, and the play's producer, director, and performers were able to talk with audiences about the issued addressed in the play. In some places, Chinese authorities sought to prevent such discussions. Click here to watch the lecture in it's entirety…….

PBS stations in California, Florida may be acquired by national, church groups

LOS ANGELES – Valentine's Day has been set as the date for the sale of KCSM-TV, the PBS station serving San Mateo and the counties south of San Francisco. The station is owned by the local community college and said it could no longer afford to operate the station because it is short of funds. Potential buyers expressing interest include two Colorado organizations, the Public Media Company, based in Boulder, and Independent Public Media, based in Denver. (You can see our earlier report on Independent Public Media here.) Daystar, a Texas-based religious broadcaster, is also interested in bidding on the……

‘Downton Abbey’ hype may highlight PBS problems

PBS executives are promoting the second season of its imported British costume drama "Downton Abbey," doing their best not only to attract viewers to the program but also to present "Downton Abbey" as part of a new strategy to attract audiences. However, critics such as Brian Lowry of Variety have responded by saying that this is more public relations than anything resembling a deliberate plan, "misreading something after the fact, then allowing execs to conflate an unexpected windfall into a 'strategy.'" And across the Atlantic, the hype may have backfired. In the UK, where "Downton Abbey" runs on the commercial……

PBS President says no major retooling needed for public TV, but mulls adding pay-TV service

PBS President Paula Kerger said today she disagreed with Bill Moyers' call for a national meeting to reconsider and re-define U.S. public broadcasting. Moyers called for a "constitutional convention" to spur a "rebirth" of public television and radio, in a speech this month to public TV executives. "The core problem," said Moyers, "is that we still don't have an expansive national vision of what we're about, where we want to go and what we want to become. Until we are able to say clearly and comprehensively what it is we really want to do, how much it will cost, and……

Report: 24 states cut funds for public broadcasting, four deleted all state support

Washington – Almost half of all U.S. states have reduced their funding for public radio and television, according to a report this week from Free Press. The analysis shows $30 million was cut from state funding for the 2012 fiscal year and cumulative state support since 2008 has dropped by over $200 million. Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania completely eliminated state support for public broadcasting. In New Jersey, this resulted in the longtime state network going off the air in June, as CCLP reported last summer. Since 2008, Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, South Carolina, and Virginia have reduced support……

BBC executives describe deep cuts, new investments

WASHINGTON — Faced with a 16% budget cut, BBC executives decided to focus resources on top priorities – peak viewing hours and the "best journalism in the world." That was the word today from top managers at the BBC, speaking at a CCLP communication forum at the USC Washington DC Center. The budget cuts were the result of across-the-board reductions by the UK government, and 16% was comparable to the cuts at museums and other cultural institutions. But the BBC was also determined to invest in new programming. "It's all very well cutting," said Caroline Thomson, the BBC's Chief Operating……