1. The Organization

hat is the name of your organization? What media does it operate (TV? Radio? Podcasts?
News website? Etc.) Is it a member station of NPR, PBS, or both? Where is it physically
located?

2. Your Home Community
escribe the place you are from. What kinds of people live there? What issues are important to
them? Where is your home community relative to the public media organization? Are you
personally familiar with the public media organization? Were you introduced to it as a child?

3. History and Mission
ho created your organization? When? And most importantly, why? What is the mission of
your public media organization? What public values do they support? Find the organizationübr>
mandatory /cal Service Report. hat good do they say they do for their local communities?

4. Content (on-air, on line, and streaming)
escribe the linear programming schedule. What kinds of programs do you see? Describe the
content provided on-demand. What programs does your organization produce themselves? What
kinds of topics or issues do those locally produced programs cover? What kinds of people do
they give voice to?

5. Social Media
oes your organization maintain a presence on social media? Which platforms? What sorts of
posts does it generate? What kinds of content does it distribute via social? Does it have much of
a following? How would you describe its strategy for using social media?

6. Audience
ow would you characterize the target audience? What kinds of people does this content speak
to (and for)? What kinds of people are likely to find the content interesting and appealing?
Which kinds of people might not be included in the audience?
7. Financing
hat is the annual budget for your organization? (That is, how much does it spend in a year?)
How much of that budget comes from government? How much comes from contributions? Who
are the major donors? What foundations does it receive funding from? Does your organization
sell nderwritingàIf so, what companies provide sponsorship?
8. Contribution to the Public Good
o you think your organization provides a valuable service for your home community? For
your neighborhood? For your family? If yes, explain why. If no, explain what you think it could
do differently to be of greater value.
Some ground-rules:
1. You will need to consult external sources. Be sure to include footnotes that explain where your
information comes from.
2. This assignment should reflect your understanding of the course material we¥ covered up to
this point. It will help to reference specific readings. Be sure to cite them.
3. Do not cut-and-paste! The goal is to understand and explain the nature of public media in your
community, not simply fill-in-the-blanks.
4. Your assignment will be graded in terms of the thoroughness of your answers and the depth of
understanding about the ideals and actualities of public media that they demonstrate. So be sure
to answer the questions fully. (Target length for each question is between 150 and 250 words.)