PRESS TOUR JOURNAL: State of the arts (and PBS)

PASADENA, Calif. -- I've been covering television long enough to see three presidents at the helm of PBS and current president Paula Kerger has always struck me as the most dedicated and forthright. PBS's press tour also offers a good reminder of what public television provides that can't be found elsewhere.

A popular meme is that cable offers everything PBS does. That was actually truer 10-15 years ago than it is today. Back then, A&E or Bravo might have been legitimate PBS rivals, but both cable nets ceded that ground back to PBS in the past decade. Similarly, BBC America is pretty much all contemporary British imports, which leaves the "Masterpiece: Classic" and "Mystery!" shows to PBS alone. An argument can be made that there are redundancies in natural science programming between PBS and Discovery or National Geographic Channel, but there are significant stylistic differences there, too.

Even as PBS offers more programming that can't be found elsewhere, Normal 0 PBS president Paula Kerger said that the worldwide economic downtown has also impacted PBS, which laid off 10 percent of its staff this summer, and PBS stations, including Pittsburgh's WQED, which had nine layoffs last month.

"Corporate funding is difficult for everyone in the media, and public television is not exempt from that," Kerger said. "Our funding this year has been more or less flat, actually probably a percentage or two declined from last year, relatively stable at the national level, but at the local level, it has been challenging. And philanthropy has been challenged in a number of markets around the country." 

Kerger said PBS sent representatives to Pennsylvania to try to help get state funding re-instated for member stations in the state, which has not happened. But she expressed hope that a new effort to request government funds will help public radio and TV stations "stabilize."

"There is a lot of competition for money in Washington, and we are also very much aware of that," she said. "... And if we get some funding for emergency purposes for the stations, I think that will be tremendously helpful." 

On a national level, Kerger said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will likely see an increase in funding - from $430 million to $450 million. It will be the first time in eight years public broadcasting has received "full funding," she said.

A few weeks ago, WQED announced a plan to move the "and viewers like you" credit to the front of its on-air funding acknowledgments, something PBS is looking at as well.

"The truth is the majority of our support comes from individual philanthropy and I do think we need to do a better job of making sure people recognize that most of the money that comes into public broadcasting isn't coming from corporations or foundations, it's coming from viewers like you," Kerger said. She wasn't sure if PBS or WQED first came up with the idea to re-visit the on-air credits. "I have a feeling, as with many great ideas, that they happened in parallel. I know we've been talking to them about the implementation. Obviously, part of the reason we're interested is to help stations signal value in their own communities."

At the national level, Kerger said she's committed now more than ever to the role of public media as a source of quality journalism. She also wants PBS to take a more cohesive approach to news that collaborates across PBS programs and platforms.

"Independent, intelligent, and fair reporting and analysis are needed now more than ever, and I think this is what PBS does best," she said. "Walter Cronkite's recent passing reminds us of a time when broadcast networks treated journalism as public service. We were proud to work with Walter after he left network television, and we still strive to uphold the standards that he set. For us, journalism has always been a public service, and it always will be. PBS tells the public not only what happened, but also how it happened, why it happened, and why it's important."

She also cited a Roper poll that last year showed the American public feels that PBS is second to national defense as an "excellent" value of tax dollars. (Although she didn't mention that only 18 percent of respondents agreed with that statement.)

Kerger said she's concerned about the state of the arts in America.

"I do worry that in tough economic times, there are people that think the arts are dispensable. And I think that the arts are critical," she said. "Societies are defined not by their commerce, but by the great art that is created."