Helping Out, From Coast to Coast
Media that serve their communities do well by doing good
By Stuart Miller -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/23/2008
A cable station sending deserving inner-city kids to camp, and creating scholarships and new hope for others.
A Boston station bringing the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” idea to its community be revitalizing a home for people with developmental disabilities, and renovating a former mission servicing low-income women and children.
An Alabama cable TV exec turning personal loss—the death of his father from cancer—into a vital crusade that leads to fundraising gains.
Broadcasters are pledged to serve the public interest, and there's a long tradition of stations embracing causes in their communities. Cable networks and operators aren't under the same federal eye, but many of them also help worthy causes because they know their power can be used to do a lot of good.
This year, B&C honors 11 such networks, stations and cable operators in our annual report, “In the Public Interest.” They represent the best of what the medium is capable of. “Doing well by doing good” is a philosophy that's alive and very well in the television industry.
