NPR's dilemma
Submitted by Spiro on Sat, 03/08/2008 - 2:10pm.

Ken Stern recognizes that NPR is much, much more than the sum of its affiliates. As commercial broadcasters are finding out, the big-stick-in-a-field definition of radio is rapidly fading.

NPR's superior journalistic product is available by streaming, podcasts, cell phone, and (to a limited degree) by Sirius satellite radio. Yet these alternative platforms are not even mentioned in NPR's mission statement, which is all about member stations.

Stern has pushed all of these alternative platforms, and that made the board of directors--heavy with member stations--nervous as hell about their own viability. He was fired Thursday. But the board can't fire the future.

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