I say this over Austin's KUT firing its general manager last month. Indirectly, at least, the firing seems related to the political big chill that has descended on the UT System, as well as the A&M and Texas State university systems, in the past 18 months.
This:
Is the nut graf.
The festival dispute raised questions about UT-Austin’s relationship with KUT. The university holds the station’s broadcast license, KUT employees are university staff and the newsroom is housed in the Moody College of Communication. But the station says it operates with editorial independence and relies almost exclusively on donations rather than university funding.
Does KUT think it still has editorial independence?
That's especially with the Evangelist [sic, see story name] who fired Hiott telling PR lies in a folo story.
If not, what are its options? Note that I said "post-Trump." Before then, it surely has no options.
After that, unless we get an even bigger wingnut, it can either try to wrest the current license from the university, or apply for a new one, and if it gets it, set up shop on its own.
That said, KUT is nowhere near alone in this predicament, per another public station, KISU, affiliated with Idaho State:
More than half of NPR’s 1,000 member stations are licensed to or affiliated with colleges or universities, according to NPR’s website. A 2019 PBS article listed 49 university and college public television licensees, a majority of which belong to public institutions—many of them flagship or public land-grant universities, but some community and technical colleges as well.
Ouch. Now, as the likes of Dick Tofel have written about nonprofit-status newspapers, any situation with a nonprofit boss is fraught. But, the media landscape? Even more.
And, no, it's not just "red" states. I don't know if Harvard or other Ivies have NPR stations or not, but we're at two-plus years and counting of their Zionist-based anti-Palestinian stances.
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