Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

Public Broadcasting Act

Enacted by the	90th United States Congress
Citations
Pub.L. 90-129
Stat.	81 Stat. 365
Codification
Legislative history
Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 7, 1967
Major amendments
Supreme Court cases

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (47 U.S.C. § 396) set up public broadcasting in the United States, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and eventually the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).

When Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act into law on November 7, 1967, he described its purpose:

It announces to the world that our Nation wants more than just material wealth; our Nation wants more than a "chicken in every pot." We in America have an appetite for excellence, too. While we work every day to produce new goods and to create new wealth, we want most of all to enrich man's spirit. That is the purpose of this act.

More concretely:

It will give a wider and, I think, stronger voice to educational radio and television by providing new funds for broadcast facilities. It will launch a major study of television's use in the Nation's classrooms and their potential use throughout the world. Finally — and most important — it builds a new institution: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

History

The importance of the act was supported by the statements of many prominent Americans during the House and Senate hearings in 1967, such as Mister Rogers and Senator Pastore (chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications). With the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, non-commercial broadcasting received a much needed moral as well as financial up-lift from the Nations's top legislators. The Act created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CPB, and charged this agency with the task of encouraging and facilitating the expansion and development of non-commercial broadcasting and program diversity. The corporation would have the funds to help local stations create innovative programs, thereby increasing the service of broadcasting in the public interest throughout the country.

Educational Television

Along with the progress made by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, other areas such as Educational Television (ETV) made headway as well. The FCC had reserved almost 250 channel frequencies for educational stations in 1953, although seven years later only 44 said stations were in operation, however by 1969 the number of stations had climbed to 175. Each week the National Education Television and Radio Center, after 1963 renamed the National Educational Television “NET”, aired a few hours of relatively inexpensive programs to educational stations across the country. The material aired was produced by a plethora of stations such as WGBH in Boston, WTTW in Chicago, and KQED in San Francisco. With the new growth of commercial radio and television, the likes of the educational programming were being largely ignored. The higher budget of the commercial media was making it hard for the educational programs to compete, due to the lack of funding and budget. The networks airing the media began to favor the entertainment programming because it lured more people, and thus more advertising dollars. Locally ran, nonprofit television and radio tried to “fill in the gaps”, but due to the technology gap created by the lackluster funding and budget it was increasingly difficult to produce high-tech programming that the consumer was used to. The increasing distance between commercial and educational media led to, in 1965, the Carnegie Corporation of New York ordering its Commission on Education Television to conduct a study of ETV, and from that study derive changes and recommendations for future action regarding ETV. The report created from the study was published about two years later and became a “catalyst and model” for the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

The act allowed smaller television and radio broadcasters be heard to a wider range of audiences and encourage new and developing broadcasters to display their knowledge to the country. Before 1967, commercial radio and television was widely used by major networks in order to attract advertisers. Smaller networks were unable to make much noise due to their lack of budget. The Act provided the window for broadcasters to get their message across and in some cases straight to the point. Many people who could not afford premium channels were always provided PBS in order to facilitate a greater market of people. Such forms of media included programs that were educational, instructional, and cultural purposes. Many adults and children today would have grown up without some of the well known PBS shows. As for the most popular, Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood may not have been created and would not have provided the educational benefits that they offered. Many other shows are informative to everyday needs or concerns. Such as warning and alerts could reach communities faster and more efficiently if larger network stations may not even broadcast at all. Local events and special offers were a bonus but were generally targeted at larger audiences so they were not always beneficial for the station.

Concepts

Public broadcasting includes multiple media outlets, which receive some or all of their funding from the public. The main media outlets consist of radio and television. Public broadcasting consists of organizations such as Corporation of Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting Service, and National Public Radio. CPB, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other and of the local public television and radio stations across the country.

CPB was created by the federal government and is funded by the federal government, which does not produce or distribute any programming.

PBS is a private, nonprofit corporation, founded in 1969, whose members are America’s public TV stations—noncommercial, educational licensees that operate nearly 360 PBS member stations and serve all 50 states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. The nonprofit organization also reaches almost 117 million people through television and nearly 20 million people online each month.

NPR has many dimensions. They are first and foremost a mission-driven, multimedia news organization and radio program producer. NPR has a network with a strong base of member stations and supporters nationwide. They have innovators and developers who are exploring new ways to serve the public via digital platforms and improved technologies.

Public Broadcasters

Fred Rogers

Known as Mr. Rogers from the popular children's show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which aired on the Public Broadcasting Service(PBS). Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1928, he studied child development and earned a degree in music composition at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1969, he went in front of the U.S Senate to defend PBS in hopes to increase funding for the station. A video of the hearing can be viewed here.

He was known to have touched and inspired many lives, "Mr. Rogers’ ability to talk about the things that really matter in childhood have made him an inspiration to two generations of children already, and to countless generations to come. Our nation’s children are better today for having had the counsel and wisdom of Pittsburgh’s own Mr. Rogers. All of us were truly fortunate to have had the best neighbor in Mr. Rogers. He passed away on February 23, 2003.

Charlie Rose

Born in January 5, 1942, he has hosted his show Charlie Rose since 1991.

NPR

Created in 1970, it is a non-profit membership media organization.

Telethons

Telethons are broadcasts that can last hours to days in order to raise money for a charitable, political, or other cause.

The Act

The beginning of the Public Broadcasting Act Starts out:

(a) Congressional declaration of policy The Congress hereby finds and declares that--

(1) it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes; (2) it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of nonbroadcast telecommunications technologies for the delivery of public telecommunications services; (3) expansion and development of public telecommunications and of diversity of its programming depend on freedom, imagination, and initiative on both local and national levels; (4) the encouragement and support of public telecommunications, while matters of importance for private and local development, are also of appropriate and important concern to the Federal Government; (5) it furthers the general welfare to encourage public telecommunications services which will be responsive to the interests of people both in particular localities and throughout the United States, which will constitute an expression of diversity and excellence, and which will constitute a source of alternative telecommunications services for all the citizens of the Nation; (6) it is in the public interest to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities; (7) it is necessary and appropriate for the Federal Government to complement, assist, and support a national policy that will most effectively make public telecommunications services available to all citizens of the United States; (8) public television and radio stations and public telecommunications services constitute valuable local community resources for utilizing electronic media to address national concerns and solve local problems through community programs and outreach programs; (9) it is in the public interest for the Federal Government to ensure that all citizens of the United States have access to public telecommunications services through all appropriate available telecommunications distribution technologies; and (10) a private corporation should be created to facilitate the development of public telecommunications and to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.

Recent Developments

Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia has slashed public broadcasting funds $424,000.

Dropout Prevention Campaign Launched. A project will focus on 20 cities that have had higher percentage rates of high school dropouts. The program called American Graduate will spend $4.4 million on the project and eventually add 40 other cities to it. The project will help students by raising their awareness of dropout problems.

Public broadcasting exec to speak at KBBG banquet

Lehrer calls for PBS, NPR to invest more in news. PBS anchor Jim Lehrer said that there is a need to increase federal funding in order to meet the need of serious journalism as broadcasters and commercial newspapers see declines. Lehrer said "public media needs to produce more local news and serious journalism because other channels are being used to tease and to entertain and only to inform across the surface. I have a good source on why this is a problem. The source is Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson told the folks back when this country was founded that the only way this democratic society we just created is going to work is if there is an informed electorate."

Public Broadcast funding is to retain most of what President Obama had set aside for it.

See also

• Federal Communications Commission
• Freedom of speech in the United States

External links

• The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.