PBS Chief Decries Practice of Subscriber List-Swapping

PBS President Ervin Duggan on Sunday reemphasized public television’s strong opposition to any swapping or renting of subscriber lists with political organizations. Urging an immediate end to the practice, he said that stations were “moving quickly” to do just that.

At the same time Duggan sought to provide perspective and a certain balance, criticizing any “reaction disproportionate to the offense.”

Speaking at a press conference in Pasadena at the close of the television critics’ gathering, Duggan said, “We believe [list-swapping] must stop,” but he allowed that what “bothers me perhaps even more is that it will be distorted beyond its proper size.”

The furor arose several weeks ago when it was disclosed that several major public television stations--including WGBH in Boston, WNET in New York and WETA in Washington--had shared lists with the Democratic National Committee. That aroused concern among lawmakers--particularly certain Republicans--dealing with future appropriations for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting.

Almost immediately it was also revealed that some stations, including at least WNET and WETA, were also sharing with Republicans. In Los Angeles, KCET-TV has acknowledged purchasing donor names from Republicans and Democrats, but a spokeswoman said that its written policy as far back as 1993 is not to rent or swap with any partisan groups. On Sunday the spokeswoman added that a purchase was made “as recently as May.” The practice of buying such lists has since been discontinued.

Even as he said stations needed to “end all transactions . . . to and from” and that the privacy of public television’s supporters must be honored, Duggan offered additional detail for a rounder picture.

Noting that the list swapping was “entirely bipartisan,” he said that Republican organizations, including the Dole ’96 campaign and even some groups hostile to public television, had benefited. He said that of the 349 stations in the PBS system, an investigation has showed just 30 to 50 stations were involved. And he pointed out that all business conducted with political parties or candidates was done by “third-party list brokers.” Other nonprofit outfits, he said, do the same thing.

Public television, he argued, has stayed true to its mission. He said the current flap “does not go to the core of who we are.”

“I doubt that [WNET vice president and longtime public television leader] Ward Chamberlin or [‘Civil War’ producer] Ken Burns ever met a list broker,” Duggan said.

Meanwhile, the public broadcasting corporation has indicated it will cease providing funding for any station that continues the practice, but Duggan stopped short of saying PBS would do the same. He said that it would be “an imprudent way to exercise power.”

While saying he expected the controversy to evaporate by week’s end, after Congress goes into August recess, it overshadowed what Duggan had apparently hoped would be his network’s big news: that sometime this fall PBS--mostly through its entrepreneurial ventures such as PBS Home Videos, various partnerships and what he termed “expansionist policies”--will have surpassed by $100 million the income it had just five years ago.

The network’s operating income has grown from $182.1 million in fiscal 1995 to an estimated $280 million in fiscal 1999, ending Sept. 30. Only 15% of its revenue, he said, comes from federal funding.