Public broadcasting in the United States is widely seen as an important component of the media culture of the nation (Carnegie Commission, 1979; Twentieth Century Fund, 1993). Its programming and the terms of public support for it are not without criticism; it has its detractors from both the right and the left, and it regularly is a subject of debate. On the whole, however, public broadcasting tends to be endorsed as a social good; American society is seen as being better off for having it because of its role in broadening the base of information, education, cultural experience, and political discourse.

However, U.S. public broadcasting is much different from its counterparts abroad. By comparison with other major systems of public-service broadcasting (e.g., in Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and most other advanced "information societies"), the U.S. enterprise is not seen to be as central...