President Jon opened the day’s ZOOM only meeting featuring Rotarian Rob Dunlop, President & CEO KCTS and Jonathan Barzilay, Chief Operating Officer of PBS, the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization.   These media executives explained how PBS nationally and local stations work together to produce unbiased news, educational programming and special events.  

 

Rob Dunlop began by describing how Seattle Rotary #4 helped fund the KCTS building at the Seattle Center.  KCTS has moved to a new home on Capitol Hill, but the station remains grateful for Seattle Rotary’s engagement.  

 

Rob who has served on the PBS national board for six years, introduced Jonathan Barzilay as a seasoned broadcaster who has helped guide PBS with a stellar group leading public broadcasting in the U.S.  

 

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Jonathan said the national and local organizations support each other with programming and funding.  “Conventional networks are bound by local affiliates and together that can become a challenge,” he said. “PBS stations are separately owned 501C3 or licensed via a university or a state.  A range of businesses that comprise the PBS family.”  Fundamentally PBS stations don’t decide on programs based on demographics and advertising.  “We are looking for stories that allow film makers and journalists to do work at their capacity,” he said, “which is a different calculus from network programs.”

 

“The journalism landscape is changing from technology, social media and various platforms under the banner of well resourced journalism,” Rob said, “as PBS stations work to traverse the new landscape.” 

“Yes, there is a crisis in local journalism as the  internet and Craigslist consume advertising revenue from local media outlets,” Jonathan said. “Fragmenting of the landscape to multiple cable and internet options puts pressure on journalism because of the political climate.  Examples of cable channels that cater to a conservative or progressive audience.  More of a struggle for journalists that try to walk a middle line.”

 

Funding for public broadcasting is not 100% funded by government.  The Corporation of Public Broadcasting is not PBS but distributes funds to individual stations and is especially important for rural stations.  For every dollar of the federal dollar the local station raises six or seven.

 

The White House proposed $1.1B reduction in federal funding for public broadcasters could impact PBS and other public media stations. If Congress approves the planned reduction, it could significantly affect the resources available for PBS programming and operations from the top of the organization to its rural roots.

 

They were candid about how to express support for public broadcasting by connecting with elected officials and making the case about what we do to help local communities.  Public media supporters can visit Public Media www.publicmedia.com  to learn more about key arguments as the reductions will have an uneven impact. “Everyone will be diminished but rural local stations will take the greatest impact don’t want them to go dark,” Johathan and Rob concluded.   

 

Incoming president, Jan Levy, provided the day’s short program about the club’s ‘Future Vision Task force’. As co-chair of the task force with Cathy Gibson, Jan offered an update on the task force to create financially sustainable and affordable club. “We are working on a balanced budget, from lower meeting costs to every other aspect of club operations,” she said. “We have heard feedback, and we are working to achieve the best value and experience while not charging more than $50 for a lunch venue.”  The club will be announcing a permanent meeting venue soon.

 

Membership is a function of every club member.  When it comes to service, our task force has proposed a more efficient structure: one local service committee and one international service committee.  Both committees will be member driven.  Future Vision also calls for more streamlined systems to operate more efficiently.  There has been a lot of work going on and volunteers who have put in an amazing amount of work.  Sneak peek – programs should be built around a theme.  Seattle Foundation’s healthy communities’ model: economy, basic needs, education and what our year will look like.       

 

-Thanks Pete for another extensive and well-reported article!