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From the President 
In this issue of Beyond the Box, Michael Fox reports on the INPUT conference hosted by ITVS, May 1 through 6, with our more than 50 U.S. media partners. INPUT was in many ways a celebration of public media—it showed us that public media can be defined in positive, affirmative terms. Public media’s home is not in the negative space of being what commercial media isn’t; rather, it lives in the light to make people’s lives better. It is that simple. What is not so simple is transforming that which is happening now into that which is possible. And public media by definition takes on the toughest transformational challenges. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations’ envoy to Africa, spoke to 23 CEOs at the INPUT Global Public Broadcasters Summit about HIV and AIDS in Africa. It is possible to stop the devastation in Africa that has left 58 percent of women infected and dying, the fields untended, and orphans starving. But that isn’t what is happening, says Lewis. Devastation continues there on a daily basis. Only change will take us from what is happening now to a better future. The CEOs at the summit signed on for change, declaring that they will share programming and take a hard look at their role and responsibility in saving lives through educating their constituents. Abubakar B. Jijwa, director general of the Voice of Nigeria, wrote ITVS last week to say that the summit “captured my innermost emotions and left me with a ‘What can I do?’ challenge… we’ll do our best to reach out more to audiences in English, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Fulfulde, French, Arabic and Ki Swahili languages and put the HIV/AIDS campaign in the forefront of all aspects of our news and programming.” Bringing people together who care about the public interest won’t change lives overnight, but it can inspire us to action as it has Mr. Jijwa. We should take heart and draw strength from our colleagues abroad. ITVS is committed to media that plants the seed, encourages the conversation, builds the alliance and demands that the public engage in making people’s lives better. Public media is not a small pocket of America idealism; rather, it is a fundamental impulse around the world. —Sally Jo Fifer |
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