Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest / Edition 1

by Michael P. McCauley, B. Lee Artz, DeeDee Halleck, Paul E Peterson

Overview

As federal funding for public broadcasting wanes and support from corporations and an elite group of viewers and listeners rises, public broadcasting's role as vox populi has come under threat. With contributions from key scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, this volume examines the crisis facing public broadcasting today by analyzing the institution's development, its presentday operations, and its prospects for the future. Covering everything from globalization and the rise of the Internet, to key issues such as race and class, to specific subjects such as advertising, public access, and grassroots radio, Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest provides a fresh and original look at a vital component of our mass media.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765609915
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/31/2002
Series:	Media, Communication, and Culture in America Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

DeeDee Halleck, Michael P. McCauley, B. Lee Artz, Paul E Peterson

Read an Excerpt

From the Foreword (p. xii): The present volume . . . connects us to deep, careful thought as to what public broadcasting might be-and what, based on the historical record, it should not try to be. Difficult problems of finance, mission, and orientation are engaged by academic analysts and community media activists, both from the United States and beyond. Answers to such vital questions may not be expected to arrive on a platter; it is the process of discussion and debate itself that is fundamental. Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest is not another obituary, but rather the beginning labor in an urgently necessary project: the reclaiming and social redefinition of our media system.-Dan Schiller, Professor of Communications, Library and Information Science, and Media Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

From the Series Foreword (p. ix): This new book . . .seeks to examine the unique role of electronic media in American society and culture. Moreover, it addresses issues central to public broadcasting's continued existence as a public trustee in an age when the government funding it relies on is rapidly diminishing and other new and evolving listening and viewing technologies, such as the Internet and direct broadcast satellite, compete with the traditional airwaves. In these insightful chapters, public broadcasting is carefully and thoughtfully examined and in the process its value as a communication medium is challenged, ratified, and confirmed yet again.-Michael C. Keith, author, radio consultant, and member of the Communication faculty at Boston College

Table of Contents

I: Defining the Public Media Terrain; 1: Introduction; 2: Public Broadcasting; 3: Brand New World?; 4: The PBS Brand and the Merchandising of Public Service; 5: The FCC and the Public Interest; 6: Pacifica Radio's Crisis of Containment; II: Critical Dimensions; 7: Introduction; 8: The Public and Its Problems; 9: Advertising on Public Television; 10: Should One Size Fit All Audiences?; 11: DBS and the Public Interest Opportunity in Satellite Television; 12: Making Money and Serving the Public Interest; III: Global Perspectives; 13: Introduction; 14: The CBC and the Public Interest; 15: Public Broadcasting, the Information Society, and the Internet; 16: Between Globalization and Democratization; 17: Canadians Connected and Unplugged; IV: Where Do We Go from Here: Civic Space, Cyber Market, Public Trust, or Grassroots Alternatives?; 18: Introduction; 19: Social Capital, Civic Space, and the Digital Revolution; 20: Resisting the Market Model of the Information Highway; 21: Public Television in the Digital Age; 22: The Grassroots Radio Movement in the United States; 23: Microradio

Editorial Reviews

The authors and editors have produced a timely, first-rate critique, analysis and discussion of important but too seldom heard issues. The book focuses not only on public broadcasting, as the title reflects, but other technologies as well. It is an ideal textbook for any undergraduate student or even a Ph.D. candidate or, even better, for any sincere and concerned person involved in public policy-making in the arenas of public broadcasting, telecommunication, education, information systems and institutions, government, media economics, and national development. It is readable, understandable, and instructive. It also presents international examples and potential solutions toward public communication and public service broadcasting.
—John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Nolan A. Bowie