Future of Public Media

Will Vijay Ravindran put The Washington Post in the forefront of digital strategies? Ravindran is the Washington Post Company Senior Vice President and the first (ever) Chief Digital Officer.  Recently, he sat down with AU’s J-Lab Director and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Jan Schaffer, to discuss his new expanding role and the future of news reporting. Read more...

Door-to-door get out the vote and issue awareness efforts are photo candy for newpapers. The image of motivated and passionate citizens involving themselves in the political process connecting directly with other citizens constitutes a narrative of American democracy that just looks and feels right.  While such efforts continue on today, the succusseful advocacy campaigns of the 21st century begin and thrive through a different kind of connection -- an internet connection. Embracing the connective opportunites of the digital era is importatnt for advocacy groups to remain vital, but are legacy techinques and legacy groups done altogether? Who's running the show? Read more...

I recently spent a morning demo'ing a fascinating experiment in digital archiving of television (free login required). The Internet Archive, a vast and improbable digital library both of traditional and emerging media, has started a new project to use some of its immense and mostly dark archive of 24/7 television news from around the world. You might remember their showcasing of 9/11 television, which I participated in, and which has since become a resource for journalists scholars. Read more...

When PBS restored independent film series Independent Lens and POV to its prime-time core schedule, viewers then were threatened with the next hurdle: station carriage. In the past, many public TV stations have not carried social-issue documentaries at the time PBS has selected. Read more...

At this year’s Silverdocs film festival, the largest documentary festival in the nation, public television had a central role. Read more...