Attempting an Affirmative Approach to American Broadcasting

Abstract

The Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) was the largest source of capital funding for U.S. public broadcasters for nearly fifty years. Between 1963 and 2010, the PTFP distributed more than $800 million to support the construction of public broadcasting facilities. Though the PTFP itself was generally noncontroversial, the fortunes of the program were complicated by the partisan politics of public broadcasting and federal fiscal policy. This study provides evidence of the ambiguous and contingent nature of the American approach to public broadcasting, and demonstrates some of the problems associated with affirmative efforts by government to advance public communication.