CommonDreams: Back to the Future of Public Broadcasting

[marmar]

Published on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 by Messenger Post Newspapers
Back to the Future of Public Broadcasting
by Michael Winship

Last week, I attended a reunion of "The 51st State," a robust, local public television news and public affairs program that graced the airwaves of New York City's Channel Thirteen back in the early 1970's. I didn't have the pleasure of working on the show -- it went off the air shortly after my arrival in Manhattan -- but a lot of my friends and colleagues did, and it was a treat to see all of them again.

The reason for the gathering was the launch of an effort by Thirteen to rescue and restore old videotape from its four-and-a-half decade past. Better late than never. Over the years, as a frequent public television writer/producer and a sometime television historian, I've bemoaned the loss of thousands of hours of videotape, significant history, much of it erased or simply tossed into dumpsters.

Clips were shown from old "51st State" broadcasts, eliciting hoots of recognition, laughter, pride and not a few tears. What we saw was a raucous, lively, offbeat, iconoclastic, funny, rough and tumble TV program, a newscast not unlike the city it covered but totally unlike any local television news show since.

That's a pity, and its says volumes not only about the current state of local TV news but the state of public broadcasting in America, which has perpetually struggled to recapture the spirit of its early days; the ragged-edge innovation, willingness to take risks, the opportunity for all kinds of people to participate in the creation of programming that reflected a panoply of their interests and concerns.

The problem, of course, is financing. The old joke in public broadcasting: the good news is, you've got partial funding; the bad news is, you've got partial funding.

There are wonderful, probing public television series such as "Frontline," "NOW," "P.O.V." and "Wide Angle." "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer," in its 32nd year, continues to provide valuable perspective on the issues of the day. The kids' shows and science and history documentaries can't be beat. And National Public Radio is a true news organization, not just covering stories but uncovering them, large and small, all over the world. ....(more)

The rest is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0130-25.htm