The 2004 Arts and Humanities in Public Life Conference

December 2nd organized

& 3 r d 2 0 04

by

The Univer sity of Chic ago Cultural P o l The Harris i c y Center School of Public Policy Stud ies

Moderated by Veteran Broadcast Journalist John Callaway keynote addresses The Future of Public Television by Pat Mitchell President and CEO, PBS

The Politics of Public Television by Ken Auletta Author & Media Critic, The New Yorker

he t t a d e t presen

f o m u e t Mus r A y r a r o p m e Co nt ois n i l l I o Chicag Avenue

cago i h C t s 220 Ea call

773.702.4407 For More Information or to Register

email

[email protected] web

http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu

session four

University of Chicago Cultural Policy Center The Harris School of Public Policy Studies 1155 East 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637

2:45 – 3:30 p.m. Questions from the moderator and the audience Possible points of discussion:

continuted

• Are the interests of large public television stations so irreconcilable from the smaller stations and state systems that a kind of “U.N. Security Council versus U.N. General Assembly” system is needed? • Why are so many communities served by “overlapping” public television stations? Are there too many public television stations? What are the financial and viewership consequences of these overlapping stations? • Some of the smaller public stations mostly “push the button” to relay the national programming schedule. They provide little in the way of local programming. Why should they exist?

3:30 – 3:45 p.m. Afternoon Break

session five

The

2004

Arts and Humanities

3:45 – 4:30 p.m. “The Politics of Public Television” An address by Ken Auletta, author, media critic, The New Yorker Mr. Auletta will discuss how politics can affect public television funding and programming.

4:30 – 5:00 p.m. Moderator and audience questions for Mr. Auletta Possible points of discussion:

in Public Life Conference

• In the past, conservative critics have threatened to abolish public television—are both parties now on board with Big Bird? • Is public broadcasting a plaything of “the liberal elite?” • How do the major commercial media outlets view PBS and to what extent to they limit funding of public television?

The Future of Public Television Public Television enters its 36th year…

9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome back from Carroll Joynes, Executive Director, Cultural Policy Center at The University of Chicago

session one

Organized by the University of Chicago Cultural Policy Center

D A Y T W O F R I D A Y D E C E M B E R 3 R D

A widely respected and controversial American cultural, educational, and journalistic public institution is at a crossroads. How does it meet

Moderated panel discussion with radio executives, including: • Torey Malatia, President and General Manager, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio • Steve Robinson, Senior Vice President for Radio, WFMT Radio, Chicago • A representative from National Public Radio in Washington D.C.

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Questions from the moderator and the audience

its original mission of providing an alternative to commercial television

Possible points of discussion:

and serving “the underserved” while achieving large enough audiences

• Why does national public television lack the kind of national and international news service provided by National Public Radio, and should public television produce such a service? • Why can’t public television stations make the kind of program contributions to PBS national television programming that local reporters, producers, and programmers make to the National Public Radio services? • Local public radio stations are provided with all kinds of opportunities to “cut into” NPR news programs with local updates. Why is this resisted by the Lehrer News Hour on PBS? • WFMT Chicago is a non-profit fine arts radio station that runs commercials. Could this be a model for some public television stations?

to generate financial support? As one public station executive put it, “Public television is at a tipping point.”

Join us December 2nd & 3rd 2004 at the Museum of Contemporary Art 220 East Chicago Avenue • Chicago Illinois For more information or to register, please contact: [email protected] or call 773.702.4407 or visit http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu

10:30 – 10:45 a.m.

session two

DAYO N E T H U R S DAY D E C E M B E R 2 N D

9:15 – 10:00 a.m. Should Public Television Listen to the Radio?

9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome and conference outline from Carroll Joynes, Executive Director, Cultural Policy Center at The University of Chicago

Morning Break

10:45 – 11:30 a.m. Independent Producers and Dissenters This session will feature a moderated panel which will include independent producers and community-based critics of public television. Panelists to be announced.

11:30 – Noon Questions from the audience Possible points of discussion:

session one

• What role should independent producers play in the future of public television? • For those who feel public television has abandoned working people and minorities, what course of redress is available? • What can public television learn from such institutions as public access stations and C-Span?

9:15 – 10:00 a.m. “The Future of Public Television” A keynote address by Pat Mitchell, President and CEO, PBS

Noon – 1:00 p.m.

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Moderator and audience questions for Ms. Mitchell

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. Public Television for Kids: Views from the Academy

Possible points of discussion: • Is the very term “public television” counterproductive given that many viewers think their tax dollars fund public television, when in reality, many stations exist on a preponderance of non-tax funding? • How does PBS plan to deal with declining audiences on a national level? How much should ratings matter in public television? What should we make of pledge drives, detested by so many television critics? • How is public television coping with the competition from cable channels and other outlets that now specialize in programming once dominated by public television— the Arts and Entertainment Channel, Disney, Odyssey, C-Span, Bravo, the Discovery Channel and Discovery Kids and Science, the History Channel, Nickelodeon, and BBC America—just to name a few examples? • Where is the real power in the public television system—with the stations? PBS? The Corporation for Public Broadcasting? The state legislatures? Ideally, how should the power be distributed?

10:30 – 10:45 a.m.

session three

11:15 – Noon A moderated analysis of the first two conference addresses Participants will include: • Newton Minow, former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission • Lawrence Grossman, former President, PBS and NBC News • William J. McCarter, former President and CEO, WTTW, Chicago

Lunch Break

session four

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. “The Stations’ View of the Future of Public Television” An address by John Lawson, President and CEO, The Association of Public Television Stations 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. The Stations Speak A moderated panel discussion between executives from a variety of public television stations. Participants will include: • Dan Schmidt, President and CEO, WTTW Chicago • James Pagliarini, President and CEO, Twin Cities Public Television

Cybele Raver of the Harris School of Public Policy at The University of Chicago will moderate a panel discussion between eminent researchers in the fields of communications and psychology. Panelists will include:

1:45 – 2:15 p.m. Questions from the audience Possible points of discussion: • How crucial is children’s programming to the mission of public television? • How well has PBS children’s programming served the needs of children and families? • How well does public television serve the needs and development of older children and ethnic minority adolescents? • If most of public television’s children’s programming migrated to commercial outlets, what effect would this have on public television audiences? On children?

2:15 – 2:30 p.m. Afternoon Break

session four

session two

Dr. Starr will discuss the possibility of a major restructuring of public broadcasting as an independent trust comparable to the Red Cross or the U.S. International Olympic Committee.

Lunch Break

• Dale Kunkel, University of Arizona • Deborah Linebarger, University of Pennsylvania • Monique Ward, University of Michigan

Morning Break

10:45 – 11:15 a.m. “An Alternate View of the Future of Public Television” An address by Dr. Jerold M. Starr, Executive Director, Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting

Noon – 1:00 p.m.

session three

Ms. Mitchell will address the complicated funding issues facing public broadcasting. She will also discuss both new PBS programming and the programming opportunities afforded by the development of digital channels and other technological advances.

2:30 – 4:00 p.m. Now Tell Us What You Really Think Veteran broadcast journalist John Callaway will lead a plenary session of all the presenters and panelists who have stayed for the second day of the conference. This will be a “last chance” opportunity for those who have participated in the panels and members of the audience to raise questions not yet answered or to underscore arguments made earlier in the sessions. Mr. Callaway will attempt to identify both the “calls to action” that have been made during the conference, and the policy recommendations that have emerged.

Produced with with the generous support of

Free for University of Chicago Faculty and Students

The Harris School of Public Policy Studies,

$45 for advance paid registrations (deadline November 25)

the McCormick Tribune Foundation, and The Irving B. Harris Foundation

$65 at the door $20 for students Scholarships available

For more information or to register, please contact: [email protected] or call 773.702.4407 or visit http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu