Joe W.
B. Nature of the Community Advisory Board
1. The law provides that "[t]he role of the board shall be solely advisory in nature...." It also stipulates that the board shall advise the governing body of the station and therefore must be distinct from and independent of the governing body. The purpose of the advisory board is to provide a vehicle for effective community input to the station's governing body about station programming, community service and impact on the community from the station's major policy decisions. Congress believed that the establishment of community advisory boards would assist the stations to develop programs and policies that address the specific needs of the communities that they endeavor to serve.
2. The law is not intended to preclude stations from establishing and maintaining other types of advisory bodies.
C. Relationship of the Community Advisory Board to the Governing Board of the Station
1. The law segregates the management and operational functions of the governing board from the functions of advisory board to ensure a clear demarcation between the governing board and the advisory board.
2. The advisory board is intended to provide the public the opportunity to be heard on station programming, community service and impact on the community of major policy decisions. All stations are encouraged to establish whatever mechanisms will be most effective, under local circumstances, to accomplish this congressionally established goal.
D. Composition of Community Advisory Boards
The station may exercise a reasonable degree of discretion in selecting advisory board members. The board should be reasonably representative of the diverse needs and interests of the communities served by the station. No individual representative of any particular group has a legal right to membership on an advisory board. Nor does the law empower any person, court, or government agency to require a station take or refrain from taking any action with respect to a station's programming or policies. The composition of the community advisory board must reflect its independent role, and may not include members of the station staff or governing body in anything other than an ex officio or administrative capacity.
E. Result of Noncompliance
CPB may not distribute any of its funds to any community-licensed public broadcasting station that does not have an advisory board which meets the requirements of the law. This prohibition against the distribution of funds is the exclusive remedy for enforcement of this requirement.
http://www.cpb.org/stations/certification/cert3.html
>From: "gboozell at juno.com" <gboozell at juno.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] KPFA (was MALIK RAHIM: Yesterday's
>RadicalsDevolve....)
>Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2005 21:08:47 GMT
>
>So how are the interests of non-member listeners or communities that lack
>membership protected or represented in this form of governance?
>
>To me it seems that since the nature of broadcasting is public and
>certainly reaches beyond a paid organizational membership, there would
>ideally be some mechanism to ensure non-member interests or important
>issues not addressd by the current paid membership are included somehow. I
>don't know what the answer is, but limiting governance to dues paying
>volunteers can result in the station becoming marginalized because its
>board can be too narrowly focused.
>
>In public access TV, the rights of the producer are ususally privileged
>over the interests of viewers or others. Free speech is very important but
>is there any way to consider viewership or other measures in the equation?
>
>Greg Boozell
>gboozell at juno.com
>
>
>-- "Joseph Wanzala" <jwanzala at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Some organizations protect themselves by establishing formal membership
>and
> >membership dues - which drives most of the loons out, but many members
> >oppose such a solution as undemocratic. So far, the community
>association
> >I
> >am a part of resisted that solution, but the board is divided.
>
>Pacifica does not have this 'problem' but then $25 may or may not be a
>prohibitive amount for 'loons'. The low-average for listener sponsor
>donations to Pacifica is about $100 per year. Also, the core of the
>Pacifica
>listenership is not necessarily as fluid as Doug might have it, most
>listeners are long-time residents of the given station areas and longtime
>supporters.:-
>
>http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html
>
>ARTICLE THREE
>MEMBERS OF THE FOUNDATION
>
>SECTION 1. MEMBERS DEFINED...
>
>
>
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
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