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Public Broadcasting Figure Cheers PBS' New President: WNET Business Leader Says Paula Kerger `Will Be Terrific'

Posted on: Thursday, 26 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By R.D. Heldenfels, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jan. 26--A major figure in public broadcasting thinks PBS' new president "will be terrific." After all, he's seen her at work -- as one of his staffers.

Paula Kerger, who becomes PBS president March 13, is executive vice president of the Educational Broadcasting Corp., holder of the license for WNET, the dominant public-TV station in New York City and a major producer of programs for PBS at large.

Her soon-to-be-former boss, EBC Chief Executive Officer William H. Baker, spoke Wednesday to the Canton Forum about "the state of American television."

A former Clevelander who worked at WEWS (Channel 5) -- and whose brother, Larry, is a videographer for WKYC (Channel 3) -- Baker praised Kerger during an interview after his speech.

A major reason for his admiration: "She understands the power and value of the stations" in PBS.

He felt the organization had become too centralized under its most recent president, Pat Mitchell, and her predecessor, Ervin S. Duggan.

While Baker called both of them "very capable," he also noted that "both came from outside public television." They never had a real understanding of public TV as a collection of independent, local stations, he said. Kerger has been with WNET and EBC since 1993.

"I'm very hopeful for Paula," Baker said, "even though it messes up my day something fierce."

Free speech

Kerger may prove bolder in dealing with outside pressures on the network.

Mitchell was seen as caving when, for example, PBS declined to distribute an episode of Postcards From Buster featuring a lesbian couple. Mitchell was also at the helm when PBS began cutting strong language and nudity from productions rather than risk FCC fines for its stations.

"There's nobody more free speech-oriented than Paula Kerger," Baker said. When WNET offered No Direction Home: Bob Dylan as part of its American Masters series, it made the show available with and without bleeps. Some stations, including WNEO/WEAO (Channels 45/49), ran the bleeped version. WNET ran it unbleeped.

"We didn't get any complaints," Baker said.

Baker's speech, meanwhile, argued for vigorous public broadcasting in a constantly changing television world.

"Change is the operating principle of American media," he said. "The `state' of American television doesn't exist. Better to speak of the `flux.' "

Dramatic changes

Baker noted how dramatically the medium had changed since his childhood, when his family could not even afford a television set. Instead, Baker's mother would pull a wagon bearing Baker and his brother to an electronics store in Cleveland Heights, where they would watch TV shows through the store's window.

"I was always transfixed and amazed at what I saw," he said.

But the ensuing years have seen TV go from a medium dominated by three commercial networks and public TV to something contending with the impact of personal computers and the Internet, digital video recorders, hundreds of channels, viewing on demand, video iPods and cell phones. It is also a world where one person could put together a TV show and send it out on the Internet, he said, so "the difference between the amateur and the professional is being blurred."

Although he agreed that more choices are available, he said, "most of them are owned by a few enormous... multinational companies. Newspapers, television groups (and) movie studios are combining and merging with dramatic speed....

"A few large, profit-seeking businesses control the vast majority of information Americans consume," he said. In that environment, he said, "public television remains the one source of electronic media that is local, community-responsive and dedicated to people, not profit. Public television, true to its name, remains the one repository of public-service doctrine in American media today."

Contact R.D. Heldenfels at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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