Public broadcasting in the United States was founded on the principle that the airwaves belong to the public. As the network of public TV and Radio stations grew and became professionalized, it retained its high ideals about public service. But now digital technology enables anyone with a passion for public service to participate in a new kind of global media system that is increasingly leaving broadcasting behind. So far public broadcasting has embraced the new digital public space only on its terms.
Subsequent posts in this blog will explore ideas for the evolution of public broadcasting in the digital age. I'm going to take some time with this, since I want to be clear in my own thinking. Writing is often the best way to clarify my thoughts, look at them from the outside, and test them against other ideas.
If you have anything you'd like to contribute to this process, I invite you to fork any of the posts on this blog (it's on Github), make edits, additions, or changes, and send me a pull request. I think it would be fantastic to collaborate on ways of imagining the future of public media, and articulating them in the most clear and useful way.