Prometheus 6

Getting a foot in the school door
As the Corp. for Public Broadcasting enlists new-media firms to help teach history, concerns arise about commercialization.
By Matea Gold
Times Staff Writer
August 1, 2005

NEW YORK -- When the Corp. for Public Broadcasting announced in the spring the launch of an ambitious program aimed at expanding middle- and high-school students' knowledge of U.S. history and civics, it seemed to fit squarely with its traditional public service mission.

But an emphasis by corporation officials on how corporate investors could profit from the project has provoked controversy about the role commercial interests will play in the initiative and hints at new areas of conflict in public broadcasting's reliance on private-sector support.