Sunday, October 18, 2009
Public missing from radio programming
From the RoundTable blog
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Michael Bentley
Bentley, of Salem, is on the steering committee for the Plowshare Peace Center. He was a teacher in Roanoke City Schools and is the co-chairman of the board and a founder of Community High School.
If you have never heard of it, Democracy Now! is a one-of-a-kind, award-winning news program featured on more than 50 National Public Radio affiliated stations nationwide. Offering outstanding, in-depth analysis of both domestic and international news, Democracy Now! provides perspective and insight unrivaled by any other radio newscast available in Southwestern Virginia.
So why doesn't our area's public radio station, WVTF-FM, offer DN! to its listeners? This is the question that Plowshare Peace Center, Virginia's oldest peace and justice organization, has been posing to WVTF management since June 2008.
In groups and individually, Plowshare members have been talking and writing back and forth with WVTF, but we have heard no reasonable objection to airing DN! One thing we learned, however, is that WVTF, a public radio station, has no formal means for public input into programming decisions.
Consequently, on Oct. 5, after exhausting other options, Plowshare Peace Center filed a formal complaint with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting charging station manager Glen Gleixner with irresponsible and ineffective management for refusing to provide a formal means for the public to review programming.
So why will WVTF not air this outstanding news and analysis program? Is DN! too expensive? No. It's producer, Pacifica Foundation, provides the hour-long program free of charge to NPR stations for trial runs of one year.
Is it inappropriate, unprofessional, of poor quality? Hardly. The nation's top journalism award committees at Columbia University, UPI and AP recognized and acclaimed the program and Amy Goodman, its host, repeatedly. The Society of Professional Journalists recently gave DN! "Best Investigative Reporting and Award for Excellence Series/Investigative Reporting."
Due to its success, DN! is moving into state-of-the-art studio space. And it is noteworthy that Goodman was selected as the keynote speaker at the Society for Professional Journalists conference at Washington & Lee University last year.
So, what's the problem? Does DN! duplicate existing programs? No, Goodman seeks out authors, experts, activists and experts rarely heard on mainstream media or on NPR, for that matter.
How would WVTF listeners respond? Would fundraising be negatively impacted? Not if the experience of other station managers is any indication. Other stations airing DN! have received overwhelmingly positive listener response and continued fundraising success, and all have retained DN! after their one-year trial.
How does WVTF justify withholding such an excellent and unique news program from its listeners? Gleixner dismisses DN! as "advocacy journalism" and claims that to balance it, he would have to add another program. However, the 50-plus other NPR stations carrying DN! don't find such artificial balancing necessary. And if you are arguing about the need to balance media voices so often heard in Southwestern Virginia, the Rush Limbaughs already have overwhelming dominion.
Plowshare believes radio listeners in Southwestern Virginia would welcome DN! and that it would be a boost to WVTF's offerings. If any of you listen to the station's alternative talk show, Radio-IQ, you know that it repeats programs on the main channel and that it repeats its own programs. So, it can't be argued that there is no available time slot for DN!
Plowshare has offered to assist WVTF in conducting a sample poll of its listeners to assess interest in DN! We've offered to cooperate in the wording of a petition to collect signatures from interested listeners. We've offered to meet with WVTF staff to evaluate DN! broadcasts. But Gleixner has refused to discuss ways to assess listener interest.
He has also refused our suggestions to consult with other NPR station managers who broadcast DN! And during the summer fundraiser, Gleixner turned down a Plowshare donation of $200 for a day sponsorship because our message recognized DN! for its awards. Throughout Plowshare's year-long effort, Gleixner has taken the stand that we, the public, should leave programming decisions to the professionals.
So, we ask this: Should one person, refusing to consider involving the public in a program selection process, be allowed to deny the WVTF listener access to this outstanding program? Isn't this, in effect, censorship?
We hope WVTF will recognize the necessity of creating a means for formal public input into programming decisions. And we encourage everyone to check out DN! on the Web: www.democracynow.org/.
