US public broadcasters share resources

America's fragmented public media system is being pushed towards closer collaboration by funding pressure and technology such as the iPad, according to the president of the Public Broadcasting Service. PBS, the programming and technology hub for local television stations around the US, has begun working "a great deal more" with National Public Radio at a national and local level, Paula Kerger, the PBS chief executive and president, said. PBS wanted to tap into public radio's network of international news bureau, she said, as it had when it used a single team for radio and television broadcasts after the Haiti earthquake. Kerger added that local PBS stations, some of them suffering from cuts to funding at the state level, were already beginning to share more resources. Digital media was also driving them towards collaboration because the Internet, smartphones and tablet computers blurred lines between the two legacy media, she said.