May 17–24, 2001

media

WHYY Pay More?

Some Delaware activists are opposing the station’s bid for state funding.

by Frank Lewis

When representatives of public broadcasting station WHYY-TV12 appeared before the Delaware legislature’s Joint Finance Committee recently, hat in hand, an environmental activist was there to argue that the state’s taxpayers shouldn’t be handing out money to a station that does little for them.

"The intent of public broadcasting was to be something different," says Alan Muller, of a group called Green Delaware, in an interview. "WHYY is nothing different. … And for the taxpayers of Delaware to be giving money to a station that does nothing for them is ludicrous."

WHYY is seeking what the Delaware legislature calls a grant in aid, to the tune of $618,000. (The station is licensed in Wilmington.) At a hearing in late April, station representatives testified that millions of Delaware residents tune in each week to Channel 12, the only local station to reach the entire state, in part because of its half-hour weeknight news show, Delaware Tonight. They also cited various "community and cultural partnerships" and educational projects.

But to Muller, WHYY is nothing more than a "caricature of what public broadcasting is supposed to be about." Even when it attempts to cover real issues in the state, he says, the station invariably turns to sources who are "part of the establishment" — lobbyists, current and former political figures and members of the mainstream media.

"WHYY provides little serious news coverage," Muller writes in an e-mailed Green Delaware Alert, "but covers staged media events (‘kiss-ups’) by politicians, and bogus events put on by the likes of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority. Independent voices are usually blacked out or ridiculed."

Marsha Corcoran, WHYY’s director of community affairs in Delaware, disagrees.

Delaware Tonight, she says, "gives voice to many constituencies." In fact, Muller’s been a guest, she adds. Muller, however, recalls only two occasions when he’s appeared on the station, and only for a matter of seconds each time. (And, he adds, if the station covered his removal from the state house by capitol police in January, as indicated in materials provided to City Paper by WHYY, no one ever called him for comment.)

Muller’s not alone. Susan Regis Collins, chairperson of the Wilmington River-City Committee, submitted a letter to the Joint Finance Committee in which she says that typically, only the first 10 minutes of Delaware Tonight is devoted to local, non-business news. "There is a paucity of coverage of local community news, especially issues of interest and concern to residents of the City of Wilmington," she writes. "It has been our experience that press releases addressing even mildly ‘controversial’ issues [are] largely ignored."

WHYY’s Corcoran notes, however, that the middle portion of the show is set aside for in-depth discussion of one issue. And that’s why the commentators who Muller considers pro-establishment were brought in, she says — "because of their political insights."

Corcoran says she is scheduled to meet with the Wilmington River-City Committee to discuss these issues, and would be "happy" to meet with Green Delaware as well. At press time it was not clear when the Joint Finance Committee would rule on WHYY’s grant in aid application.