CPB Acts on ‘Objectivity and Balance’ Two Years After IG Report
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is set to move on a 2005 inspector general recommendation to institute a policy on “objectivity and balance” in weighing national programming. Contracting work is set to begin on four of seven requests for proposals on the subject that went out last year. Indicating the difficult task the corporation faces of crafting a policy that’s palatable to public broadcasters, Senior Vice President Michael Levy told the board there were no “takers” among journalism schools for three “critical” papers. The CPB issued the RFPs to get input from academic institutions.
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The remaining papers include ones on “journalism when government supports an enterprise,” best practices “in assessing objectivity and balance,” and the applicability of objectivity and balance to multiplatform distribution of content, including traditional and new media, Levy said. Besides seeking changes in CPB governance, Inspector General Kenneth Konz asked the corporation to “establish formal policies and procedures for conducting regular reviews of national programming for objectivity and balance.” The IG’s directive came after an investigation prompted by controversy over Kenneth Tomlinson’s efforts as CPB chairman to tinker with programming decisions to correct what he called a liberal slant in Public Broadcasting Service programming.
Levy told us the corporation is “finishing the contracts” for the four papers that “came back successful.” He expects a final report on the four issues to be ready by the September board meeting, he said. For the “critical” papers that didn’t elicit the desired responses from journalism schools, the CPB decided to circulate them to members of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication to generate interest, he said: “They are a conduit for the papers.” A colloquium on the subject planned this spring is being put off, he said. Once the contracted papers are completed they would be shared with PBS, National Public Radio and other organizations for their “review and input” before CPB decided on the next steps, he added.
“I haven’t got a set timetable on this,” Konz told us when asked why the board hasn’t completed the task more than two years after his recommendations came out in November 2005. “The board is working on it,” he said. In his most recent report to Congress, the IG said the corporation had finished most of the work he had asked for in his 2005 report. Asked if he thought the delay was because it was a difficult issue to resolve, Konz would say only that the corporation is working with several journalism schools “in taking a look at the issue and alternatives.” He said he wasn’t sure about the “board schedule” for complying with the “objectivity and balance” recommendation.
The issue of objectivity and balance in public broadcasting is “an extremely difficult thing to sort through,” said Oregon Public Broadcasting President Steve Bass. He was on a panel that reviewed the responses to the CPB’s request for proposals. But if the CPB’s effort “raises the level of discourse” on the subject, it would be a good thing, he said. “Right now the discussion about this is being done not just in partisan terms but within a context of an erosion of journalism all the way around,” said Bass, a former chairman of the Association of Public TV Stations. For public broadcasters, the issue comes down to federal funding, he said: “If there weren’t federal funds involved in this we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”
The application of “objectivity and balance” to online offerings raises “a whole series of issues,” Bass said, noting that his network has a radio show with a large blogging component. It would tricky to make objectivity and balance decisions when it comes to user-generated content, he said.