August 13th, 2005
Clearing the air
For some time now I’ve been participating in a group of public broadcasters known as the Public Service Publisher initiative. I’ve been the token representative of the podcasting world, never having actually produced a public radio or television show except for a brief period at KPFK in 1971. I’ve been the messenger of tough love to this and the expanding group of public broadcasters who are grappling with the podcasting wave.
In return for the privilege of working with some very smart and prescient people–Dennis Haarsager, Stephen Hill, Tim Olsen, Mike Homer, and others–I’ve had to take certain issues and ideas behind a firewall. I do this all the time in the technology business, what with NDA agreements, beer-stained confessions, and embargoes. Today I received an email from one of the group that prompted and confirmed my decision to resign from this group. I’ve asked the author to either send the email to the full group, put it publicly on the record via a blog or Web site, or give me permission to do so.
I hope my friend (for I value you/him as such) will do one or all of those things, so that we can engage openly and transparently in a discussion, food fight, or whatever. There is no longer anything I can say privately inside the PSP that will be as useful as what I can say in the clear, and no time like the present to do so.
