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Article: American Public Broadcasting: Will It Survive Adolescence?
- Article from:
- Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
- Article date:
- June 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Broadcast Education Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Public broadcasting in the United States is in its adolescence. Just as a parent may feel frustration with teenage children who do not appear to be fulfilling expectations, contemporary media critics express frustration when evaluating public broadcasting. The optimism that followed the birth of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 has given way to ambivalence and frustration: frustration with the fact that the system's early potential has not been realized, and ambivalence about which path to take to avoid future mediocrity.
The following essay summarizes the themes discussed in three recent publications about public broadcasting in the United States. All three ...