AIR and ITVS Scan Public Media's Independent Journalists

[Source: Association of Independents in Radio, December 6, 2010]

The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), two organizations focused on producers in public radio and public television, respectively, collaborate for the first time to survey independent journalists working in public media. The Scan of Public Media’s Independent Journalists will explore questions related to distribution and format. It will seek insight into areas such as where independents generate income outside of public media and what their prospects may be for the future. The findings will provide the first comprehensive understanding of the scope of independent journalists contributing to public radio, television, print and online. MarketTrends Research will begin conducting the survey this week.

This initiative comes at a time when Americans’ consumption of news and the sources they rely on continues to change, and public media are called upon to understand opportunities there may be to serve a broader and more diverse constituency. AIR and ITVS have assembled a strong coalition of partners to help disseminate the survey to ensure a broad and representative sample, including APM, NPR, PRI, PRSS, PRX, WETA-TV, WGBH-TV, the Minority Consortia, Third Coast International Audio Festival, Transom.org, Youth Radio International and leading acquirers of independent work such as Latino USA, PRI’s Studio 360 and APM’s Marketplace.

The data gleaned from this survey of independents will complement the findings of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Census of Journalists in Public Radio and TV undertaken in August by the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. (PRNDI) that researched station-based journalists. These two studies will contribute to a more complete understanding of the landscape of public media journalism today. The AIR and ITVS Scan of Public Media’s Independent Journalists is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through a capacity-building grant to AIR, and with support from AIR’s 780 members and associates from across the U.S. and the world.

Links:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at http://www.airmedia.org/PageInfo.php?PageID=614

AIR: http://www.AIRmedia.org

ITVS: http://www.ITVS.org

About AIR: The Association of Independents in Radio, Inc. (AIR) is a broad and growing network of 780 media makers, technologists and sound artists who represent an important and vital driving force in the media-technology revolution underway. AIR producers are gifted in story making across broadcast and digital media platforms with high fluency in the production values and service ideals of public media. They are deployable as trainers, producers, reporters and agents of community engagement…taproots into hyper-local regions coast to coast across the U.S. and in 12 countries around the world.

About ITVS: ITVS funds, presents and promotes award-winning documentaries and dramas on public television and cable, innovative new media projects on the Web and the Emmy Award-winning weekly series Independent Lens, Tuesday nights at 10:00 PM on PBS. ITVS supports a dynamic field of independent media makers whose programs creatively engage audiences, expand cultural awareness and catalyze civic participation. ITVS embraces technical innovation to advance the production and distribution of independent media worldwide. The independent perspectives embodied in ITVS programs are considered by a broad public to be essential to a civil society.