Ferree Hopes to Widen CPB Audience Net

In an interview with the New York Times Sunday Magazine, new head of Public Broadcasting Service Ken Ferree says he has no idea how or why he was chosen to head CPB.
Two weeks previously, his predecessor Kathleen Cox and board chair Ken Tomlinson announced Cox was leaving after about nine months as chairman/CEO. Observers noted the change came after a Bush administration executive admonished PBS for creating a cartoon that included a lesbian couple. The Cox announcement came days after CPB appointed two ombudsmen to critique programming.
Ferree, former chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau and newly-named CPB executive vice president and COO, is serving as acting president while the CPB board searches for a successor.
Ferree hopes by initiating new programs, CPB can widen its viewership.
“We shouldn’t limit ourselves to a particular demographic,” said Ferree, quoted by the Times, asking rhetorically if public television “belongs” to Democrats.