MVM Consulting

On Demand Public Media

Give Jacksonville public station WJCT credit for trotting out this new site today:

One of the constant problems we see at many station sites is that they are exactly the opposite of this: they don't serve the need of the user to control their media experience. 

Most public station sites are station brochures or they try to serve too many internal needs via the front page. That can be especially true in the case of the joint-licensed radio and TV station.  

WJCT is a joint licensee and you have to love the simplicity of this new site!

Facebook | MPB Reinstates Fresh Air

Mississippi Public Broadcasting

“Thank you to everyone who has contacted me regarding Fresh Air. We have heard both from Mississippians who appreciated our decision to remove Fresh Air from the 3:00 p.m. timeslot and those who were disappointed to see the program removed....

“I have a responsibility to represent all the people of Mississippi—not just those who would choose to impose a “my way or the highway” mentality. There are millions of Mississippians and everyone of them has a slightly different set of perspectives and values. As a state civil servant, my obligation is to try to be responsive to all. It is not an easy task, I assure you.

“As I have said before, we take our programming decisions very seriously. Not only that, though, we take comments from our listeners seriously. Comments from concerned listeners are what led to my decision to remove the program, but I want to give equal attention to listeners who enjoy the program. Please know that I will not be driven by the slander, threats, curses and total misrepresentations I have received from many over this one radio program. Thoughtful, intelligent, and sincere feedback is certainly helpful, though.

“That is why, beginning August 2, MPB Think Radio will air Fresh Air at 9:00 p.m. We have had constructive conversations with Fresh Air and we will now include notices saying that the program may include adult content. I believe airing this program in the 9:00 p.m. time slot allows MPB to respond to those who appreciate the program and be sensitive to those who do not believe it is appropriate for afternoon listeners.

“Thank you to all who shared your feedback on both sides of this issue.”

via www.facebook.com

Poynter Online - Carvin on Facebook

Any news organization can set up a Facebook page and post links to their content, but the key is figuring out how to turn that Facebook page into a reporting and sharing tool that doesn't just push content in front of readers, but actively engages them.

via www.poynter.org

Census Aweigh!

Around 8 a.m. EDT, from his home in Reston, Virginia, my co-conspirator Steve sent an email informing the country's public radio and TV stations that the "Census of Journalists" was now open for business.

There was an immediate rush to the online site.  And immediately there was trouble.

Immediately there was trouble...

Around 5 a.m. MDT, at their headquarters in Denver, Colorado, our vendor SurveyGizmo apparently lost their "response processor."

When I logged on, around 7 a.m. PDT, from my home in Santa Barbara, I was unable to see any census traffic whatsoever.

Freak out.

This is a national project on which I've been spending all waking hours since the contracts were signed in late June. The idea is to count the number of journalist dedicated to local news and public affairs at U.S. public broadcast stations. Two veteran consultants, Steve Martin and Ken Mills, and I are toiling for Public Radio News Directors Inc. PRNDI is on contract to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Today, after weeks of countdown messaging -- and every possible beta-test -- we finally launched.  Live!  Online!  Nationwide!  My very career lashed to this census project!

My very career lashed to this census project!

I called Denver in a hurry.  There had to be data.  They better see them even if I couldn't.

In fact, I could see from our supplemental survey (an add-on survey built on SurveyMonkey and linked to our census so that when respondents finished at one site they are redirected to the other) that we had already received over 40 responses to the supplemental. No doubt the actual census numbers were even higher.  But were people just filing their numbers in space?  Would we have to call a "do over" on our first day?  

Embarrassment pending.

Well, I was assured the data was somewhere.  Yet it would be several nerve-wracking hours before I had actual proof. (Finally: actual data around 4:30 p.m. EDT!)

Thanks to Farland at Survey Gizmo's hotline for keeping me calm.  But in the future, I might prefer the 'Monkey to the 'Gizmo.

Current: MPB fires reporter for leaking Fresh Air memo

Leaking the memo was a violation of MPB policy, Gibson acknowledged, but he mostly regrets sending it from his office email account, which was traceable. "I was not the only one leaking emails; I was the only one that got caught." He believes that, by canceling Fresh Air, MPB Executive Director Judith Lewis violated another important policy: MPB's commitment not to censor or edit programs for broadcast "solely out of fear of complaint."

via currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com

Carl Gibson took one for honesty and openness. I can't condone leaking company memos BUT I can't condone the way MPB has handled this Fresh Air cancellation either. The greater good seems to be the spotlight this puts on MPB's management that purports to uphold community standards but doesn't care to convene a community conversation about those standards. Even its Facebook page was censored! (*see comments on this page -- as MPB's Facebook tender sets me straight!)

Poynter Online - Top Stories

At Poynter we have started to focus more on how information -- and misinformation -- spreads throughout media and society. We're charting how the shorthand of a story changes as it moves among the blogosphere, traditional news sites and government agencies, becoming a simplified narrative that lasts long after everyone has forgotten what the story was about in the first place.

via www.poynter.org

I love the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. A great friend to all journalists. Newsies, you have to sign up for their newsletters. And register for their News University (many free offerings there). Yes, you have to.

Radio Business Report: NPR to Demo Captioned Radio

NPR’s research and development group, NPR Labs, has been invited to demonstrate its latest technical innovations at the White House and at the Commerce Department as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  At both events, NPR Labs will demo its captioned-radio initiative which paves the way for enabling deaf and hard of hearing Americans to experience or “listen” to radio.

via www.rbr.com

Innovative and has applicability in other ways (non-handicapped). Go NPR labs!

Current: Public Media: What's inappropriate about 'Fresh Air'?

Why did Mississippi Public Broadcasting drop Fresh Air from its radio schedule? The blog "A Unitarian Universalist Minister in the South" set off a blogosphere chain reaction yesterday by speculating that the "recurring inappropriate content" cited by MPB Radio Director Kevin Farrell must be the show's willingness to treat homosexuals as normal people...

via currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com

Questions Remain.

Is this a case of community standards asserting their proper place in our decentralized system of public media?  Or have other pressures come to bear?

If it's the former, then the public has a right to know EXACTLY how MPB made its decision to drop Fresh Air -- because by making this programming choice it is saying something to the community about their standards.

If it's the latter, then the public wants to know whether it was a principled management decision. Worst case scenario: a state legislator or big money donor leaned heavily on station management. We'd call that a case of editorial interference.

MPB's Executive Director Dr. Judith Lewis (see statement below in comments) seems to tar all Fresh Air interviews and Terry Gross in particular with failing the civic conversation. Has this been communicated to the staff at Fresh Air?  Apparently not (a Fresh Air producer posted a "who us?" kind of note on the MPB Facebook page amidst a flood of angry public posts).

Dr Lewis should remember that sometimes Fresh Air is not about the lofty debates of our times, but about popular entertainers and cultural content... things that are simply interesting and timely to people. Granted the show should offer intelligent perspective.

I figure, and hope, the Fresh Air crew would ask themselves whether they've gone over a line that separates civility from coarse popularity in any of the interviews that may have sparked this action. Just discussing material of a sexual nature is not gratuitous on its face but could be deemed so if a certain decorum is not maintained. But if discourse on homosexuality is the trigger, then producers must stand up for what is surely an important discussion. Basic civil liberties may be at the core of this and civic debate would be a healthy thing.

Let's discuss what's appropriate here -- in the context of local community standards -- but with an eye on reason and fairness.  And a nose for inappropriate censorship.

NPR: National Public Rationale

Here is the reasoning behind NPR's new policy to drop its original name and use only "NPR" from now on. 

The following message from NPR V.P Dana Davis-Rehm was shared widely with the system.

*****************

by DANA DAVIS REHM

It‚s a debate so classic that Shakespeare wrote about it. Names, at

their conceptual level, are arguably nothing more than a matter of

necessary convention; we need names to help us identify people,

places, things.

If you happen to follow news about NPR, you might have noticed news

coverage over that past few days about a supposed name change. The

Washington Post and other media outlets have published reports about

it, and many blogs have added commentary.

Our legal name remains National Public Radio, as it has been for more

than 40 years, but our trademarked brand has long been NPR. Several

months ago, we let staff and stations know that we were making a

conscious effort to consistently refer to ourselves as NPR on-air and

online.

Why this decision to go by NPR rather than National Public Radio?

First of all, most of our audience ˆ more than 27 million listeners to

NPR member stations and millions more who experience our content on

NPR.org and through mobile or tablet devices ˆ identify us as NPR.

When asked what they listen to, public radio fans often state quite

simply „NPR.‰

Secondly, this comes after years of using NPR in most cases with the

occasional National Public Radio included in program credits.

Generations of radio hosts are known for their own delivery of „This∑

is NPR.‰ And it still is.

We don‚t have an elaborate branding campaign planned; we‚re just

trying to spread the word along the way. NPR or National Public Radio

ˆ by either name, we hope you think we still sound as sweet!

Dana Davis Rehm is Senior Vice President for Marketing, Communications and External Relations at NPR.

National Public Radio is changing its name to NPR

NPR says it's abbreviating the name it has used since its debut in 1971 because it's more than radio these days. Its news, music and informational programming is heard over a variety of digital devices that aren't radios; it also operates news and music Web sites.

via www.washingtonpost.com

Seems we already reported this but Paul Farhi confirms it is part of a calculated move. No biggie if you ask me. We all question the extent we remain "radio" when in fact we are content makers who distribute on multiple platforms.