Some will remember Raymond Ho, director of statewide educational television network AETN in the late 1980s. He was an innovative, energetic force at the station who was subjected to hostility by a legislative subcommittee because the analysis program Arkansas Week included panelists John Robert Starr and Meredith Oakley, of the then Arkansas Democrat, and who were often critical of public officials.
State Senator Knox Nelson opined that AETN was supposed to be concerned with education and not politics, and fretted that educational TV was becoming a propaganda system used to promote political philosophies.
Mr. Ho responded that Arkansas Week was about all the week's news, not just the Legislature and politics. And he focused on the future by expanding programming and opportunities for statewide AETN broadcasts. His work made him a role model for other state educational TV systems. After he left AETN, things quieted down.
Now AETN is back in the news. The hiring of Courtney Pledger as the new executive director of the Conway-based station, now in its 50th year, is cause for celebration. In announcing his choice to replace Allen Weatherly (who died in November), Gov. Asa Hutchinson touted "her vision for this agency" and her "incredible background in television."
The Little Rock native has a jaw-dropping résumé that includes Hollywood acting roles, work as an award-winning TV film producer and executive producer for DreamWorks Animation, and--most impressive--her amazing feat at turning the financially woebegone Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival into a nationally recognized Oscar-qualifying event for short films in the space of a few years. "She has brought national acclaim for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival," says the governor. "I recognize her talent and her leadership."
She starts work on March 20, intent on preserving her belief that the role of public television and of AETN is vital to viewers. "I take this job with a great degree of excitement and enthusiasm," she said. Those who value the important and thoughtful programming of public broadcasting in Arkansas have high hopes for what her leadership can accomplish.
Editorial on 03/10/2017