Field Report: “Why Democracy?”

Greg Fitzpatrick

This is the third in a series of “field reports” that the Center for Social Media is producing as part of the Future of Public Media project, funded by the Ford Foundation. The field reports examine innovative media projects for public knowledge and action, with a particular interest in exploring how publics form around such projects.

Center for Social Media Research Fellow Greg Fitzpatrick’s examination of “Why Democracy”—an ambitious multi-platform, multi-country public broadcasting project—demonstrates the opportunities and challenges for public media born in a broadcasting environment to engage publics across global and digital divides.

Beyond Broadcast ‘08 Keynote: Larry Irving[PDF]

Larry Irving, President, Irving Information Group

Widely credited with coining the term “the digital divide,” telecommunications consultant Larry Irving formerly served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information under the Clinton administration. In his remarks at the June 17, 2008 Beyond Broadcast conference, he urged public broadcasters and their allies to craft a clear policy agenda for the next administration that reflects both technological and demographic shifts. He suggested that “new media” has now become simply “media,” and that public media makers will need to adjust quickly while maintaining a commitment to serving a diverse array of Americans through high-quality noncommercial productions. Read more in the transcript of his remarks.

Mapping the Money in Public Media[PDF]

Diane Mermigas, Editor at Large, MediaPost

Public media’s opportunities exceed its challenges. Digital interactivity is tailor-made for public media projects that incorporate grassroots creativity, deep-dive examinations of complex issues, and connections to civic activism. Participatory tools and platforms give public media makers the means to secure their own financial futures, and to compete with large commercial outlets. This briefing, commissioned in conjunction with the Beyond Broadcast conference, examines models for monetizing digital, interactive public meda.

Beyond Broadcast 2008 Rapporteur’s Report

The 3rd annual Beyond Broadcast Conference, titled “Mapping Public Media,” was held June 17th, 2008 at American University. Roundtable discussions, demos and exhibits examined the explosion of digital, participatory maps as public media, and as tools for visualizing the radical shifts in our media terrain. This rapporteur’s report offers highlights of the day’s events, and includes audio and video of speakers and multimedia presentations.

Beyond Broadcast 2008 Videos, Podcasts and Downloads

Downloads of the Beyond Broadcast podcasts, videos and other materials, for those who just can’t get enough of the 2008 Beyond Broadcast conference!

Frequently Asked Questions: Public Media

In this moment of shifting technologies and emerging platforms, how can we identify public media? Here at the Center for Social Media, we define them as any media expressions or platforms that promote public knowledge and action—that is, the formation of publics that can act together to address common problems.

• Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy
  The London-based Centre for the study of Global Media and Democracy brings together researchers from Goldsmiths’ departments of Media and Communications, Sociology and Politics. It hosts public lectures and debates, research symposia, and seminar series, building on existing research initiatives at Goldsmiths: the Unit for Global Justice, the Futures of News project (funded by the Leverhulme Foundation), and the Research Unit in Governance and Democracy.
• Public Radio Exchange
  A web-based marketplace for public radio pieces.
• NPR’s Bill Siemering “National Public Radio Purposes”
  In 1970, one of the founders and first program directors of NPR put together this mission statement that went on to define the network’s first daily program, All Things Considered.
• E.B. White from the New Yorker on non-commercial television
  This 1966 letter to the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television illustrates that the discussion on the future of non-commercial broadcasting is on-going.
• Public Television Affinity Group Coalition
  Headed by working Jim Pagliarini, check out this knowledge base on new trends in media usage and how media makers and distributors are meeting the challenge.
• The Kojo Nnamdi Show - PBS ombudsman Michael Getler and NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin
  On February 16th, before convening at the Center, Dvorkin and Getler spoke with NPR’s Kojo Nnamdi on the responsibilties of public media.
• Sundance Documentary Fund
  The Sundance Documentary Fund is dedicated to supporting U.S. and international documentary films and videos focused on current and significant issues and movements in contemporary human rights, freedom of expression, social justice, and civil liberties.
• OneWorld
  OneWorld aims to be the online media gateway that most effectively informs a global audience about human rights and sustainable development.
• National Minority Consortia
  Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Minority Consortia function as developers, producers, and distributors of radio and television programming that appeals to diverse audiences and harnesses the creative talents of minority communities.
• LinkTV
  Link TV broadcasts programs that engage, educate and activate viewers to become involved in the world. These programs provide a unique perspective on international news, current events, and diverse cultures, presenting issues not often covered in the U.S. media.
• The Public Media Caucus
  A project of the Center for Digital Democracy developing a public process for discussing the future of public media.
• The Bill of Media Rights Campaign
  A grassroots group responding to media consolidation has written a Citizens’ Bill of Media Rights.
• The National Radio Project
  A nonprofit media organization that produces a weekly, syndicated public affairs radio program called, “Making Contact.” Making Contact is played on over 160 NPR, Pacifica, University, and Microbroadcasting stations all over the US and abroad.
• Free Speech Network
  Free Speech TV, which airs on the Dish satellite TV network and on some public access cable TV channels, airs primarily social, political, cultural, and environmental documentaries acquired from independent producers,” and is beginning to produce and commission original content.
• MediaRights
  A community website that helps mediamakers, educators, nonprofits and activists use documentaries for action and dialogue. Enter a keyword and find a film to use and share!
• DocuSeek
  DocuSeek is a search site for independent documentary, social issue, and educational videos available in the U.S. and Canada.
• Webactive
  Part of the RealImpact division of RealNetworks, Inc., and provides web and streaming media services (design, development, hosting) for nonprofit and educational institutions worldwide. Its directory lists such projects as Democracy NOW!, CounterSpin and a directory of 1,250 progressive groups online.
• Indymedia.org
  Where anti-globalization activists, community organizers and citizen media makers express their perspectives and respond to others.
• Local Voices Local Media
  A new online publication of Sound Partners for Community Health to showcase some of the best examples of what its grantees have accomplished. They also published Funding Media for Social Change.
• Prometheus Radio Project
  Where low-power radio activists mobilize.
• Independent Television Service
  ITVS programming reflects voices and visions of underrepresented communities and addresses the needs of underserved audiences, particularly minorities and children.
• Public Radio International
  Based in Minneapolis, PRI provides over 400 hours of programming each week, content that is broadcast and streamed online by its 734 affiliates nationwide. PRI’s programming is available on XM Public Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. PRI owns Public Interactive LLC, public broadcasting’s leading Web services company.
• National Public Radio
  NPR is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming. A privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization, NPR serves a growing audience of more than 25 million Americans each week in partnership with more than 800 independently operated, noncommercial public radio stations.
• Public Broadcasting Service
  PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a public non–profit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation’s 348 public television stations. Available to 99 percent of American homes with televisions and to an increasing number of digital multimedia households, PBS serves nearly 90 million people each week.