Purpose and Principles

Transparency and Public Media

Why Transparency Makes Sense

Transparency will help public media outlets distinguish themselves in today’s crowded media environment.
Transparency also serves to underline the importance of three core public media concepts: mission, trust and accountability.

Mission

First, being transparent is consistent with the nature of our public service mission.

Trust

We want to sustain your trust. Being transparent about our decision making procedures means you can verify whether we’re upholding our part of the bargain.

Accountability

The more we open up our operations, the more we will become accountable for our actions.

Recommendations

  1. We recommend that all stations adopt a Code of Transparency that fits their specific circumstance.
  2. We recommend that any Code of Transparency spell out the station’s key editorial and grant funding policies
  3. We recommend that CPB investigate ways in which ombudsmen services could be deployed to individual stations.
  4. We recommend that CPB sponsor a series of regional workshops for stations. The goal of these workshops would be for each attendee to go home with a draft code that suits his or her station’s particular needs.