Saturday, January 13, 2007

Three Ds and NPR

Today at the National Media Reform Conference I attended an afternoon session on the future of public broadcasting. One of the panelists was David Brancaccio of NOW. He spoke of the need for all public broadcasting to meet the criteria of "the three Ds": diversity, democracy, and daring. I found myself pondering these reasonable demands relative to NPR's news. Does it's coverage reflect the diversity of opinion, race, gender, interests etc. that one finds in this country? Does its coverage encourage democracy, people getting involved, organizing for their interests, taking action, being knowledgable? And finally, is the coverage daring - surprising, taking risks against power, stepping out of the mainstream?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if she's there or not (I'm betting that she is), but if you run into Barbara Bernstein (nationally acclaimed radio producer from Portland, OR) she would be a great person to talk with about NPR; i think she has a lot of thoughts about what's gone wrong.