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Via:
yahoo daily news on-line Public
Broadcasting Service's board unanimously chose
Pat Mitchell, a Turner Broadcasting executive
and former talk show host, to take over as
president of the network. Board chairman Colin
Campbell has said that she was selected for her
ability to help them plan for the future and to
find consensus among the 346 public TV stations
that make up its service. Mitchell,
57, PBS's fifth president, said the company's
educational mandate and non-commercial policy
give it a unique advantage because viewers are
concerned that huge media companies in control
of programming mean fewer independent voices on
television. "PBS is a brand that we know the
public trusts,'' she said. Mitchell has a long
history of work in TV news; as a correspondent
for NBC's "Today" show in 1979, as the host of
the Emmy-winning syndicated talk show, "Woman to
Woman," and most recently for Turner
Broadcasting, heading a division that produced
nonfiction programming for CNN, TBS and TNT,
including CNN's epic "Cold War" documentary
series. Because
PBS no longer holds the unique position it once
did as the only broadcasting network presenting
nature documentaries, historical documentaries,
and educational children's shows &endash; which
are now widely available on cable - Mitchell
stressed the need to emphasize what sets PBS
apart. "We're not making programming to appease
the greatest number of eyeballs for
advertisers," she said. "We're making
programming to serve the public." Reassuring
words from Pat Mitchell, a woman to keep our
eyes on for better programming. Excerpted
from original article by David Bauder,
Associated Press Television
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