Mitch Gelman is president and CEO at WCNY. Dorian Friedman is a Washington D.C.-based journalist and WCNY consultant.

Public media, like our nation, sits at a moment of consequence. Despite the elimination of federal funding — or perhaps catalyzed by the recission of more than a billion dollars in previously allocated taxpayer support — stations are rethinking their roles and their purpose in communities across the country. Many are embracing a chance to connect with younger audiences, to engage new viewers and to stimulate a broader range of civil discourse than in the past.

The party-line orthodoxy of the vote to claw back funding was equally frustrating and eye-opening. The results beckoned two possible reactions: Retrench and hope for a change of heart or hear the message that publ

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