Public Television: Panacea, Pork Barrel, or Public Trust

(Hardback)

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This history of public television over the past 20 years shows how powerful political actors and the budget process in this country have severely restricted the strategic behaviour and programming of public TV. This hard-hitting story fills a real void in the literature on the subject and should be required reading for station managers, broadcasters, students and professionals in communications and public policymakers. The ancillary text with its analysis of organizations theory and models is intended also for undergraduate and graduate students in mass media and communications, public policy and organizational behaviour. This practical analysis of public television funding, organization and programming opens with an overview of organizations theory and a discussion of two models of organizational behaviour. A brief history of public TV policy follows with a description of critical developments under the past four American presidents. The legislative history of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting demonstrates the effects of the budgetary process in TV programming, employment diversity and services to different audiences. The case study closes with an evaluation of public television in terms of organizational strengths and weaknesses and offers practical suggestions for reform.

Reviews

"This is a very accurate evaluation of a serious problem affecting public television."-Rick Lehner
A must for anyone interested in how public broadcasting got into the mess in which it now finds itself. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes and penetrating observations about the evolution of the bureaucracy at CPB and PBS.-Comint
"A must for anyone interested in how public broadcasting got into the mess in which it now finds itself. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes and penetrating observations about the evolution of the bureaucracy at CPB and PBS."-Comint

Author Bio

MARILYN LASHLEY is an Assistant Professor in the Public Policy concentration of the Afro-American Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. She specializes in research on a number of major public policy questions.