Posted by Logan Reilly on May 03, 2024
 
Rotarians gathered on Wednesday, May 1st, for a presentation from Cascade PBS President, Chief Executive Officer, and fellow Seattle 4 Rotarian Rob Dunlop. The presentation covered the importance of local media, changes in consumer sourcing of media, the changing media landscape, and the responsibility that both consumers and producers of content have.
During opening remarks, Dunlop noted the prominence of the Rotary Four-Way Test banner on stage. The Four-Way Test asks: is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? “It represents the power of community,” Dunlop said when comparing the Four-Way Test and the mission statement of Cascade PBS. The Cascade PBS mission statement is to inform and inspire the community and make the world a better place.
 
Founded on December 7th, 1954, Cascade PBS started as a licensee on campus of the University of Washington serving the Seattle community via KUOW. Today, Cascade PBS serves an area including Western Washington and Central Washington, with rebroadcast airing in British Columbia and Eastern Canada. “So, this is generally our area, although now with streaming environments and so forth, our signal and our content and programing is now available in many other places,” Dunlop said.
 
Dunlop then spoke on the change consumers have been making to the way they access their media. “More and more households are adopting broadband as a way of consuming television content than ever before,” Dunlop shared. From Dunlop’s presentation, an infographic showed how broadband adoption by consumers has increased over time, contrasted against the decrease in the use of cable and satellite, while use of broadcast-only technology like antennas has remained flat.
As Cascade PBS grew, so did the media landscape, with countless operators in the marketplace today. “Do you remember the days when there were a couple of newspapers in town,” Dunlop asked. The media landscape today is saturated with limitless participants across a diversified background that presents challenges to smaller and regionally based media creators. “And so, this is a very congested world that we are now operating in,” Dunlop said. “Every company, every individual is a media company because we hold the power to be so in our very hands on a day-to-day basis,” Dunlop commented.
 
With changes in the media content environment, Cascade PBS has also changed their strategies for reaching consumers. “So, where’s all the energy? Where’s the momentum? It’s really YouTube TV. They really are the dominant player in the marketplace,” Dunlop said when providing examples of different streaming services. PBS has spent the last several years developing an on-demand content source to meet consumers in the spaces they already occupy. Cascade PBS, and PBS at large, rose to the challenge of evolving consumer media access by launching their own streaming service, PBS Passport. PBS Passport offers PBS original programming content, acquired content, as well as licensed content. This service has allowed member stations of PBS to directly interact with their consumers and tap into this large market of streaming based consumers.
 
Dunlop was asked about the public’s responsibility to ensure they were sharing and consuming media responsibly. “Just like we need to have a good nutritional diet for our bodies, we need a good nutritional diet for our mind, which means to not atomize too much on any one media outlet. Make sure you're 
consuming a breadth of content,” Dunlop said. Continuing his answer, Dunlop shared his concern that media content today is presented only as objective fact, even if it is truly opinion-based pieces. This mixing of objectivity with subjectivity makes it difficult for consumers to decern what is objective fact versus what is subjective opinion. Dunlop added that public media plays an important role in serving the community in this way by making them stronger and better through educational content and fair journalism.
 
Dunlop shared how it is also important for newsrooms and audiences to consider the diversity of one another. They should consider the importance of diversity of thought, geography, opinion, diversity in different forms, and diversity of sources within a story. “It's the stories you choose to cover. It's the stories you choose not to cover. It's the voices you feature in those stories. Or what role those voices play in your stories? Are they the hero of the story? Are they the victim of the story? You know, where do these different sources play in,” Dunlop said.
Dunlop closed his presentation with a quote from Mr. Rogers, “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say it's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem. Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” Dunlop then thanked those who are involved in their community, in Rotary, and elsewhere, for making the world a better place.
 
The meeting closed out with announcements for upcoming events. Saturday May 4th is the Elwha River Exploration Day from 9:00am to 3:00pm in Port Angeles. Those interested in attending the event can register on the Seattle 4 website. The next Seattle 4 meeting will be Wednesday May 15th at 12:30pm at the Westin with special guest speaker Seattle Chief of Police Adrian Diaz.
 
On Wednesday May 8th, the Future Visions Task Force will host an evening event at the Rainier Club from 5:30pm to 7:00pm, open to current club members only. “50 years ago, the first strategic plan started with Neil McReynolds, so it's proof that strategic planning works over a 50-year period, and we want it to keep going for decades and centuries. So please be there,” Seattle 4 President Nancy Cahill said. Those interested in attending can find more information as well as register on the Seattle 4 website.
 
 LINKS
  1. Cascade PBS main page:
    1. https://www.kcts9.org/CascadePBS
  2. Rotary Four-Way test:
    1. https://my.rotary.org/en/guiding-principles
  3. Elwha River Exploration Day:
    1. https://seattlerotary.org/event/elwha-river-exploration-day-1/
  4. Future Vision meeting:
    1. https://seattlerotary.org/event/special-club-meeting---may-evening-event/
  5. 5/15 Chief Diaz Meeting:
    1. https://seattlerotary.org/Speakers/06090310-18ab-431c-8851-cd64284123bd
 
Thank you Logan Reilly for this comprehensive meeting report! :)
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