Inside PBS Blog

The Beatles were right: we get by with a little help from our friends.

We here at Engage are lucky to have some stellar friends that we'd like you to meet - namely, the members of our Advisory Board, who represent some of the best thinkers and innovators in online media.  We asked each Board member to choose three of the following questions to answer:

• When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? How close to/far from that would you say you are today?
• What's the most compelling piece of media you've encountered recently? Could be a website, video, book, movie - anything. Why did it make such an impression?
• When PBS was created, there were no interwebs. Does the country need the same things from PBS today as it did 30 years ago?
• Finish this sentence: "It would be amazing to see PBS ___________" (do what?)
• Name three things public media should be doing three years from now.
• What excites you the most about what you're seeing online these days, and why?
• What concerns you the most about what you're seeing online these days, and why?
• What interests you most about being a member of the Engage Advisory Board?

We'll be posting their responses in the coming days and weeks. First up: blogger Mark Glaser.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? How close to/far from that would you say you are today?

Glaser: I wanted to be a writer because I read a lot of books growing up. A friend of my parents owned a paperback supply warehouse and we were able to get all the books we wanted for free. That led to an intense interest in reading and I wanted to write novels and fiction. However, I ended up getting into journalism instead for "practical" reasons, though I've tried to be creative in the writing I do, even if it is journalism. That led to humor writing, songwriting (usually spoofs) and lots of arts criticism.

What's the most compelling piece of media you've encountered recently? Could be a website, video, book, movie - anything. Why did it make such an impression?
Glaser: The most compelling piece of media I've encountered is the series of attacks Jon Stewart has made on CNBC and Jim Cramer. Funny that no media critics have made the same connection with the financial meltdown and all the cheerleading done by financial journalists, especially CNBC. It made a big impression on me because it was so on-target and so timely, and maybe it will wake up TV networks who are in bed with the companies they are supposed to be watchdogging.

Finish this sentence: "It would be amazing to see PBS __________________" (do what?)
Glaser: It would be amazing for PBS to put the same resources and intention into digital and online initiatives as it puts into TV. The time is now for public media to be about more than legacy outlets, and the Net provides many avenues for PBS to serve its audience in new ways: blogs, online forums, crowdsourcing investigations, citizen journalism, and more. PBS has made some great strides in this direction the past couple years, with Engage leading the way onto Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media. Instead of just using those online media to *promote* TV, PBS needs to actually live in those online media and breathe it daily.

For more of Mark's perspective on online media, check out his blog, MediaShift. And stay tuned for more interviews with our Advisory Board members in the coming days and weeks.

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