KUAZ Best of Tucson

Best Radio Station for News 

KUAZ FM 89.1/AM 1550

Readers of the Tucson Weekly choose KUAZ as best station for news in the Tucson area. If this were sports (which it is not) KUAZ would be a dynasty. This is the 12th year in a row the readers Tucson Weekly has chosen KUAZ as the market's top radio news station. It's a tribute to quality and consistency of coverage. KUAZ is Tucson's NPR station.

Civil Discourse and Politics

Civil Discourse is a core value of the public radio audience. It seems civil discourse is almost non-existent in 2012. Tracy Powell writes for Poynter.org that the problem is being made worse because local news outlets are not reporting on the toxic mix of money, politics and media.

"A Free Press report released this week says that “perhaps the most important story of the 2012 presidential election is the toxic mix of money, politics and media that is shaping so much of the discourse in the months before the general election. Yet that’s not a story you’ll find on the local news.”      Toxic Mix 

Powell suggest that local news stations are not reporting on this mix because of the money involved. Local TV is making a lot of money accepting misleading advertising from candidates and Super PACs. Because of this voters are being denied real coverage about the dangers and divisiveness of this type of campaigning.

How the phantom of ‘socialized medicine’ came to be

Related to this is Trudy Lieberman's article for the Columbia Journalism Review about Jill Lepore's "The Lie Factory." Lepore's New Yorker article describes the work of Campaigns, Inc. (NPR had a feature on Campaigns Inc. and their founders of the company Whitaker and Baxter, Political Consulting And The 'Lie Factory) Whitaker and Baxter may not have invented the negative (dirty) political campaign but, they refined it into an art form. They invented political consulting. Their methods are slash-and-burn, repeat-the-lies, cutthroat campaigning. Keep it simple. If you explain something, you've lost the advantage. Lieberman reexamines how Campaigns, Inc. scuttled Harry Truman's plan for health insurance. When introduced by Truman, the plan had overwhelming public support. with the backing of $1million dollars from the AMA, Campaigns, Inc turned the public against the plan.

This type of campaigning is exacerbating the us vs. them mentality. That point was brought home to me in a class about Parables. The focus of the study is John Dominic Crossan's, "The Power of Parable."
There are four types. They are riddle parable, example parables, challenge parables and attack parables.
Whitaker and Baxter used attack parables. They are angry and aggressively hostile. They are meant to divide and marginalize opponents. It is deliberate in squelching civil discourse. The leader of the class pointed out that attack parables can provoke violence. Violence runs through three stages.

• Ideological violence is thinking that persons, groups and nations are inhuman, subhuman or, seriously lacking in humanity (sound familiar?).
• Rhetorical violence is speaking on that presumption by dehumanizing those "others" with rude names, crude caricatures, and derogatory stereotypes.
• Physical violence (sometime lethal) is acting on those presuppositions either by illegal attack or, if in a potion of power, by official, legal political action.

Lieberman points out that the simplicity of the lie makes it difficult to combat. Powell points out that is why the political ads need to be consistently questioned by journalists. Considering the hundreds of ads running today...covering the issue once is not going to cover it.

I've been working on two projects about civics and civil discourse. A couple of weeks ago the issue of politics was broached during a civics discussion on the Real Life Survival Guide. There was real hesitancy in the room to discuss politics. It has become increasingly difficult to rationally discuss the issues because of the negative examples around us. I've also been working with the Civil Conversations Project from APM's On Being. Their goal is to bring people with differing views together of a rational discussion around issues that are dividing us.

Delmarva Public Radio

Public will have input on Public Radio's future

For smaller public radio stations with smaller audiences, the struggle to survive comes down to sheer numbers. This is holding true for Delmarva Public Radio owned by Salisbury University. In a letter to the Delmarva Daily Times, Charles T. Capute, chairman of the SU Foundation and Janet Dudley-Eshbach, president of SU, explain why they are taking a serious look at the station's situation. The Foundation hired Public Radio Captial to assess the station's situation and make recommendations. Members of the Foundation are now reviewing PRC's report.

In 17 if the past 25 years DPR has run a deficit. Funds from the University have been used to balance the books. One of the questions that needs to be answered is can a station with cume audience less than 20,000 continue to sustain an NPR news and information format? Especially when you consider they are competing for the same audience with WAMU and WESM.

When considering listener support, the size of the P1 audience is much more significant. If 40% of the Cume audience for news is core (P1), the member base is being drawn from 8,000 listeners. Is the size of the P1 audience large enough to support the cost of the news operation?

Delmarva Public Radio runs two formats. WSCL is a mostly classical service on a 33,000 watt station. WSDL is a mostly news service on a smaller, 18,500 watt signal.

Make the Most of Specials

Lately I've been helping market public radio specials. Most of the time I talk with program directors and content directors about filling a specials slot in their schedule. Real estate is getting tight for most stations. Many have their slots filled through the next quarter. If the content providers offer a short turnaround (a few weeks) my job is more difficult.

Looking for Opportunities
When I was a (PD) content director, I used to look for opportunities to get some of these quick turnaround programs on the air. If I thought the content was something the station's listeners might value, I would look for opportunities.

• I looked at weaknesses in the schedule. Programs that were doing poorly with the audience were often targets for preemption.
• Another possibility was running specials anywhere we were running repeats. Again, if the repeat wasn't doing well according to audience data, it was an opportunity to schedule a special.
• I might also decide to bump programming in my specials slot depending the content and the opportunities. 

I tried not to program for my convenience. As a curator, I looked for content that would serve my audience. There are opportunities beyond the program schedule.

Partnerships

Try thinking beyond the on-air schedule. A limited series can offer marketing and community partnership opportunities. I am currently working with On Being. They're offering their Civil Conversations Project as a limited series. On-Being is recording for programs in front of a live audience. The purpose of the series is  to promote new conversations around hot button issues. The idea is timely. According to Pew Research political partisanship is at an all-time high. Political discussion have been reduced to dogmatic proclamations and rhetoric. 

This series offers opportunities for partnerships. A marketing package could be put together. In my region, the Hartford Seminary and a major divinity school could be approached. The Hartford Seminary is trying to advance common ground issues between the three Abrahamic Faiths. If your station has a local news/talk production, regional experts could be interviewed to advance the issues represented in the series. There might also be other organizations that promote civil discourse.

We did this when I worked at WNPR. There were several instance when we were able to pull together partnerships around issues. All we did was take advantage of a desire to make community connections and take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities.  

Your airtime is not free. You want to take advantage of these opportunities. You have to start with a bit of thinking beyond the schedule or convenience.

NPR tightens comment moderation.

Poynter is reporting that NPR and other news organizations are taking tighter control of on-line comments.

NPR, other news orgs tighten comment moderation to improve conversation.

According to the article by Jeff Sonderman, The Calgary Herald,Vancouver Sun and other news organizations are moderating more to cut down on inflammatory comments and, comments that are provocative for the sake of being provocative.

NPR surveyed its on-line audience. Kate Myers writes the blog Inside NPR.org. She says NPR was surprised to see the majority of the respondents wanted to see more moderation for news content.

Your Questions Answered on Our New Commenting System

Integrity - Core Value

When posting on the Connecticut Re-Employment Group (CREG) site, I was asked to provide and example of the importance of integrity. I did mention it is one of my core values. There are so many aspects to integrity. It would depend on which aspects I want to focus on. When accepting the separation agreement from the local public broadcasting company after 21 years, the CEO special mention of my integrity.

As General Manager and Program Director (and fundraiser), I was the arbiter between marketing, radio programming and the audience. I was responsible for revenue streams for the corporation. The financial goals and objectives of the company did not always make sense in terms of serving radio's highly educated and highly loyal audience. At times I needed to balance the financial needs of the company against the needs of the audience. What I did was to look for ways to make those demands work in terms that work for radio and its audience. I can't go into detail on specifics because there aspects of the working relationship that cannot be divulged. But the management team and I looked at ways of making sure the integrity of the firewall between funders and the content remained intact while meeting the needs of those funders.

Did it work? You bet. In my last three years we saw significant gains in audience, audience loyalty, listener donations, corporate support and foundation partnerships. That would not have been possible without keeping the integrity of our relationship with our listeners (listener expectations) and our funders.

For more on integrity go here: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/integrity/

Looking for Direction

Core Values Still Matter

I listened to a very interesting discussion today at a round table at CREG, The Connecticut Re-Employment Group. I'm asking myself, again, what is at my core. What motivates and excites me? It started some thoughts on core values. Those values are why I got into Public Broadcasting.


Public Broadcasting is a very narrow field. To do that again would mean moving across the country. I cannot do that right now.  It leaves me in a place where I'm looking outward to other fields. Those core values include:

     Credibility
      Integrity
      Honesty
      Idealism
      Believe in Civil Discourse
      Inspired by Public Life and Culture


These values align well with the socially engaged audience we served. These values can be summed up by a desire to make a difference. These values can result in the ability to communicate core values to key constituencies. Is this applicable anywhere? I hope so.
The challenge for me is to translate these values into a new direction.

Real Life Survival Guide and Civics

At a recent recording session of the Real Life Survival Guide the importance of civics was discussed. (The program will air in a week or two.)  Voting is often touted as a civic duty. The issue of the right to vote and, who has the right to vote, is a big issue in this election.

Voter ID laws are seen by conservatives as a way of preventing voter fraud. On the other hand, actual cases of voter fraud are scarce. The Brennan Center for Justice, www.brennancenter.org, a nonpartisan public law and policy institute affiliated with the New York University School of Law, has studied the issue. They say the issue is a myth.   If you care to read more...go to the Truth About Voter Fraud.

Why the concern? This is going to be a close election. The losers in a close election usually claim widespread voter fraud. As the Brennan Center report points out, the allegations about widespread fraud do not pan out. 

Now there are reports that an offshoot of the Tea Party is recruiting a million volunteers to show up at polling places in minority neighborhoods this November to monitor those who show up to vote. The group calls itself "True the Vote." Common Cause released a report called, "Bullies at the Ballot Box." In it they quote "True the Vote" as rallying volunteers to block  “illegal alien vote” and “the food stamp army.” Their stated goal is to make the experience of voting “like driving and seeing the police behind you.”

This is an issue that is immediate in Worcester, Massachusetts. There are allegations of intimidation at the polls during the primary in Worcester last week. The Election Commission is set to discuss the issue at a meeting June 10, 2012. In an article in the Worcester Telegram there are allegations "that some observers engaged in voter intimidation and voter suppression with their actions, which included challenging the legality of some voters and giving orders to poll workers. There were also reports that some poll observers were illegally recording conversations between voters and poll workers."

As officials in Worcester say, the rules need to made clear and laws against illegal tactics need to be enforced.

Changes at IPR

Iowa Public Radio changes its signal array. According to CEO Mary Grace Herrington, the changes are the result of changes in listening patterns. The change puts news and information on signals that can be heard by more people. The same for IPR's eclectic music channel, Studio One.

IPR also used this opportunity to make some programming changes. Comments have been fairly light but, this should be pick up Monday when the changes take effect.

There's more information in the Des Moines Register.

Reporting Politics Uncovering the Spin

Ryan’s VP Spin

To see how Ryan's statements were spun, take a look at the coverage from Factcheck.org.

Paul Ryan's spin is not unique. I was told a few years back by the Program Director at NPR that everything in that city is spun. Covering politics in Washington is not for the inexperienced.

Coverage of Paul Ryan's VP Speech at the convention is filled with misleading statements. This behavior is standard for politicians in Washington. Former NPR reporter Andrea Seabrook told Politico in a recent interview that she was lied to everyday. Simply covering what politicians say was a sort of collusion.

Ex-NPR Hill reporter: Lied to daily

Coverage of Ryan's speech the next day focused for the most part on how energizing it was and how Ryan fired up the faithful. Information about the misleading statements were buried deep in the articles. The Columbia Journalism Review thinks the rate of fact checking needs to be sped up. Coverage of Ryan's speech on day two focused on the content and factual errors. Suddenly, the speech was seen as ordinary and filled with lies.
Speeding up the factcheck cycle
Is the after the fact in-depth analysis enough? Would a more balanced approach on day one be better to the public and for Paul Ryan as CJR suggests? Is it enough to just cover the daily events in Washington and or state capitals without the context behind the statements?