As a result, local licensees today feel less responsibility for the welfare of the national phenomenon we know as public television. This trend toward reduced allegiance has been acknowledged, but the consequences of it are not being fully examined. This is a crucial and fundamental issue. For example, stations long have claimed the right to control their own air and to provide programming that's appropriate for their local needs. But these conflicts, and their consequences, often go unacknowledged or are papered over.
National organizations have unclear mandates and fuzzy lines of authority.
Unclear mandates at the national level often result in duplication of effort or outright competition, rather than cooperation. In addition, PBS and CPB respond to the lack of an institutional voice by attempting to confront the many national problems and make decisions on behalf of the system. There is an increasing tendency for general managers with differing viewpoints and perspectives to become less active in the national arena out of pessimism and frustration. As existing interest groups become more and more frustrated by the failure of conventional means to deal with these issues, there is an increasing tendency to form splinter groups. One of the problems initially defined in this project was that there are multiple and often competing perspectives within public television.