Reinventing public media will mean implementing significant policy changes — both in Congress and within public media institutions themselves. Fortunately, the need for these changes comes at a time of growing consensus that much of our nation’s laws and regulations must be reformed and modernized to better protect consumers and to serve the needs of a changing society and democracy. More than at any time in decades, the public is willing to invest in the civic values and institutions that serve more than markets and yield more than financial returns. We’re at a moment of opportunity to reinvent public media as an essential resource that can restore and revitalize our society.
We face the choice of whether to accept a mediocre status quo, and maintain one of the lowest-funded public media systems in the developed world, or to aspire to become a global leader in public television, radio and the Internet. To accomplish the latter, we must craft bold but viable policies that address these key issues.
We believe that the Obama administration and Congress must take the lead in bringing together divided interests and organizing a comprehensive effort across government, industry and public stakeholders to meet the challenges the media are facing. Without a National Commission on Journalism and Public Media, we risk inaction or repeating the bad decisions of the past, and we lose a valuable opportunity to change the system for the better.
This new commission must draw on historical examples like the 1967 Carnegie Commission that led to the establishment of our public media system. But we must also foster a new kind of conversation with the American people. We need a commission for the 21st-century that would be truly inclusive and participatory – made up of diverse voices and viewpoints and designed to gather input from citizens and experts alike..
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