Working Groups: Funding and Firewalls

Begin with a Mission Statement

To begin, we believe that each station should adopt a specific mission statement that details its particular primary service orientation. The mission of an all-news public radio station, for example, may be different than that of a public television station which presents a content menu that ranges from performance programming to news. A clear, focused mission statement has value for consumers, the funding community and station staff. It defines the core purpose the station seeks to provide and informs the direction of other specific station editorial and funding policies. From that statement, stations can also derive a kind of rallying cry. Twin Cities Public Television, for example, uses the following phrase to describe the content it produces: “We will never mislead viewers. Period”

Once a station crafts its specific mission statement, it is crucial that it also develop policies that are consistent with its mission and defensible to all interested parties.

What follows are suggested guidelines and questions which we believe all stations should consider as they put their specific policies in place.

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