It is now clear that media as we have known it may die before the end of 2010. It is not only newspapers with over borrowed owners and dwindling ad revenues, but TV networks with the same fatal structural flaws. Public Radio and TV are also at risk with states and universities cutting back funding and with shrinking public and underwriting support.

What kind of media if any will we have left by 2011?

I think that Vivian Schiller, (Here is a short video that has her views in a nutshell) the new CEO of NPR is offering a realistic vision for what can emerge.  I want to take the key ideas that she has been talking about in a number of public venues and add more flesh and supporting ideas from others in the system that I respect

Here are what I have heard as her key points starting with two areas to avoid:

• That there is no silver bullet – such as get a big grant to support us as we are – she can see that as we are, we are not viable

• That finding the new minority niche is the holy grail – instead improve access for she feels that if we serve properly then all will be served by our content and by our connection – that the young, that minorities will find us and be involved if we are truly engaging and offer the access that meets their needs

Her big idea is a really really big tent that is a true network that uses all the power of a true network.

• The Uber News Network – The future of public media is to be found in a true network that comprises NPR, the Stations, PBS, The Citizens who live in the local communities and others who wish to serve the local community that may include the newspaper or the journalists who used to work at the local newspaper such as The Beacon in St Louis.

• That all involved have to see themselves as being more than broadcasters and to see themselves as widely serving the community – that we move beyond content to connection.

• That NPR goes out and works to help the stations.

• That we build all of this on the deep foundation of good will that exists.

I want to expand on this idea with supporting ideas from other people that have the respect of the system – for part of Vivian Schiller’s brilliance is that she is an exceptional listener and has been ingesting the thoughts and the mood of the system.

The Uber News Network

The Opportunity – By 2011, it is likely that much of the media of today will be gone. Many communities will be without a paper or a local TV station. If things continue the way that they are, the economy may be far worse and much of the effort to save us all will be seen as having failed. The nation will be starved for meaning.

Today, only a few parts of the media are offering Meaning to America and indeed to the world. It is a remarkable achievement that Planet Money is cited by both the Senate and by the Secretary of the Treasury as the ideal place to find language and an approach that makes the crisis possible to understand. The NewsHour is doing the same kind of work as is Bill Moyers.

This is not gotcha journalism. This is meaning making and it is almost exclusively available on Public Radio, TV and now the web.Now all the key content is available at at any time on the web. It would be a simple matter to curate a local page that would have every news source in one easy to find place.

More. Public Insight journalism is growing and the expertise of the community is being brought into the mix. More, on Planet Money, that had learned to connect to an audience in its proto version, BPP, a huge amount of material comes in from a passionate group of supporters.

Imagine then a system that had it all. Global, National, Regional and Hyper Local – Pro Journalist and expert blogger – all working together to give us the help is finding meaning in these mysterious and frightening times?

Vivian Schiller’s big idea is to fill this void of meaning by bringing all of this power to make meaning together.  Her big idea is to create so much value that the system gets supported for this.

Moving beyond content to connection – from Audience to Tribe

As the institutions that we all took for granted die, so many of us then will risk losing our identity. Identity is all about our “Tribe”. Our Tribe is often our job and workplace. It can be a sports team. It can be our family. Our identity comes from these connections. In our true tribal past, expulsion from the tribe is the extreme punishment. It is still so today.

As people lose jobs and roles, the search for identity will become the most powerful force in society.

In these terrible times many want to belong and find identity in helping make their community and America well again. These longings are already held in the existing Public Radio and TV “Tribe” For Public radio is itself a huge tribe. Here is how Schiller sees this “Tribe”:

It was the beginning of November and it got a bit of coverage on NPR obviously, and the New York Times and several other places. And I heard from just about everybody I’ve ever known and I got a lot of voice mails and over a thousand e-mails from people I’ve known through various stages of my career because I’ve moved around a little bit. And first of all, it was very nice of course, and I spent my month off in December answering every one of those e-mails.

But as I read through them, something really profound struck me. Which is they were all the same. In the sense that, the first sentence of every e-mail would be something like “Oh congratulations, we’re happy for you and blah blah blah…” and from the second sentence and through the rest of every single e-mail, was an expression of what NPR (and when they say NPR they could be listening to a show from PRI, APM, from their local broadcaster – they really mean public radio, so please understand that I interpret it that way) but what NPR means to them. And it was always very, very personal. It was a show they plan their commute around, or it was a story that touched them and actually motivated them to action, or it was a reporter or anchor that they feel a natural obsession with… but whatever it was, it was very intimate. And there was almost a sense for each one that NPR is MINE. For each of these e-mailers, NPR is mine. It belongs to me.

And I realized that what we have that is so extraordinary is a relationship with our audience – (and it’s a huge audience – I’ll mention that in a minute) that has a relationship with us that’s not just on an intellectual level (as it certainly is) but also on a very emotional level. And that is a powerful thing. I know of no other media company that has that connection in the head and the heart that public radio does. And by the way – in huge numbers. 26 million people tune in to some NPR program – through of course their local station – on a weekly level. That is more than the circulation of the top 50 US newspapers combined. That’s a lot of people.

Just to give you a couple more statistics about what an impact we have – and this is where that carnival barker thing comes in, so forgive me – Morning Edition has a larger audience than any of the network morning shows. The next biggest one is The Today Show and our audience is 45% bigger than Today viewing. Car Talk (and we’re not just serious stuff so I’m going to compare Car Talk to less serious stuff) is twice as big as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report combined. That’s pretty powerful and it’s growing. So there’s audience. Brand is the second thing. With the possible exception of the New York Times, I know of no other media company that evokes the same kind of loyalty that NPR does as an entity. There are certainly forms of other branded media that have larger audiences – Facebook has 175 million active users which is a mind-blowing number but I don’t think anybody goes “God, I love Facebook” they love their connection to other people. It’s not an affinity for the brand.

And in other broadcast media, it’s the shows. The most successful television show in the history of broadcast news is 60 Minutes. And there’s a lot of loyalty to 60 Minutes, but that’s not helped CBS with their other shows necessarily. People don’t think about CBS they think about 60 Minutes. NBC’s successful morning and evening shows have loyal audiences – smaller as I’ve already mentioned – but that hasn’t been much help to their primetime lineup, which has been in fourth place for years. So the loyalty there is to shows. With us, the loyalty is to the brand, which is very powerful.

There is huge potential power here – not just for more pledges but for something bigger. It is in this Tribe that the value resides that can take public radio and TV to the next level.

This tribe can be expanded way beyond the current Tribe – all the groups that Public radio have wanted to serve, the young, minorities etc can find their place in the Tribe that wants to work to make America and their community well again.

We can see this expansion and deepening of the tribe in the CPB sponsored work in St Louis – where KETC is acting as the connector between the helping agencies and the people who need help. Many of the people involved had not been part of the tribe before but are now. CPB are now funding a 30 station expansion of this work where TV and Radio stations will work to help their communities help themselves.

The person who I think gets this better than anyone I know is John Proffitt who works in Anchorage. Here is his current view on the shift to seeing our work as supporting Tribe and Identity.  Here are 2 key slides that I hope make his ideas more clear:

I think that Vivian Schiller, and people like John Proffitt, intuitively see the power of Public Media to give people an identity when all might seem too confusing or lost.

As a Facilitator of Tribes – Public Media truly serves the public and gives the community back its power. What greater act of public service could there be?

This is what Jessica Clark means when she looks to go beyond broadcasting and what Lee Rainie sees as the power of social media.

Building the Network

Vivian Schiller is clear – she knows that most stations are hanging on by their fingernails. To make any of this happen demands that there is catalytic help. She suggests that NPR staff can and should offer this help.

Without help – I fear that this will remain just a few good ideas. The stations are getting locked down in fear and have to be helped.

But I think we can do more than offer help from a few NPR folks.

In the 1930’s Roosevelt set up great public works to give people a wage and their dignity back. The backbone of the nation’s infrastructure was built then.

I think that the New Public Media system can be the Hoover Dam of our time!

Already the unemployed and the under employed geeks are mobilizing and looking for work and identity. Here is a link to Laid Off Camp – a nation wide effort to make connections in the Geek Community.

It is not only citizen journalists that the new network can rely on. It is not only citizen groups that we can rely on. My bet is that the right call will mobilize the Geeks of America to help build the new network.

If we called, the people would come. They would come and they would become us. The separation of audience and station would melt away.

What Next?

How to get started? Public Radio and TV are not a monolith. Like Republican Rome, the culture and structure make it hard to take action. In fact it is almost impossible to get collective action. In the last few weeks I have talk with several friends – all long for someone to take the lead.

In my reading of the runes, along with Tom Thomas of SRG and Mark Fuerst of IMA I think that enough people are ready. I think that Vivian Schiller has correctly sensed the vision and the plan.

If you also listen to Pat Harrison of CPB and to Paula Kerger of PBS – you feel an alignment. They too have been saying many of these things.

All are reluctant to step forward. After all in the past, such leadership would be punished. This was not herding cats this was herding lions! But I think that this will not be the case today.

I think that the lead has to come from the top. I feel that if NPR, PBS and CPB got together and announced that they were behind an approach like this, that enough would say yes to form the core group and to get the work begun.

When Rome was confronted with a major crisis – they gave up their complex system of checks and balances and accepted direct leadership. I think that the system is ready for this and that it trusts the leaders of NPR, PBS and CPB to do what is best.

If not this – then what?