The Carnegie Commission on Educational Television was established in
November 1965, for the purpose of studying existing non-commercial
television operations in the United States -- including technical,
organizational, financial, and programming aspects -- and formulating
proposals for future development. Rather than concentrating solely upon
stations involved with instructional programming, the Commission placed
its emphasis upon community-owned stations and their service to the
general public.
The first calls for this study of educational television came with a
December 1964, conference of the Educational Television Stations
division of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters and
the United States Office of Education. Subsequently, C. Scott Fletcher,
executive consultant of the ETS-NAEB, invited Robert Lowell, of the
Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council, to form a committee
to draft a proposal for a study. The Carnegie Corporation, presented
with the proposal, agreed to sponsor the study with a $500,000
grant.
The creation of the Commission was generally well-received.
President Johnson extended special praise, offering his help in the
implementation of any recommendations for strengthening public
television. The commission was also fortunate in the selection of its
membership. All were distinguished and well-known figures, with James
R. Killian, chairman of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, as Commission chairman.
The Carnegie Commission spent fourteen months in fulfillment of its
task. It held eight formal conferences and several smaller meetings,
interviewed a number of individuals and institutional representatives,
and solicited reports from staff and outside experts. In addition,
Commission representatives visited ninety-two of the more than one
hundred and twenty non-commercial educational television stations in
the United States and surveyed television operations in seven foreign
countries.
The Commission's report, Public Television: A Plan For
Action, was published in January 1967. It cited the poor
condition of public television broadcasting and pointed to the need for
increasing the number of stations and their funding. Among the many
recommendations of the Commission were those for the creation of a
Corporation for Public Television (CPTV), to serve as a clearinghouse
for public and private funds, and the imposition of an excise tax on
television sets to increase the amount of available funds.
The Carnegie Commission received a great deal of praise for its
work. The scope and depth of its study was unique. Although opposition
developed over the tax on television sets, the Commission did help to
stimulate interest in public television. This interest increaed as the
Ford Foundation launched the Public Broadcasting Laboratory with a $10
million grant in the spring of 1967. The support of President Johnson
and others (e.g. Frank Stanton, president of CBS, who promised $1
million once the proposed CPTV received a charter) helped to secure
passage of legislation in November of 1967, creating the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting.
