Canceled TV show that criticized UNC leaders gets a one-year extension
UNC-TV has reversed its decision to cancel the long-running political talk show “NC Spin.” The public television network announced Friday that the program will get a one-year contract extension.
Back in July, host Tom Campbell announced that 2019 would be the show’s last year, and he said he thought station management had canceled his show because it had criticized the UNC Board of Governors.
The station’s interim director told The News & Observer at the time that “we have heard some concerns (from university leadership), but that did not enter into this decision.”
A news release from NC Spin credits the decision to extend the show to the station’s new CEO, Lindsay Bierman.
“Upon taking the helm of UNC-TV in August, Bierman committed himself to reviewing the network’s slate of programming, including rethinking how the organization approaches its public affairs coverage,” the press release said. “Over the next six months, efforts will continue to reevaluate UNC-TV’s broader approach to public affairs programming including the announcement of a slate of new initiatives and priorities in the year to come.”
Bierman said that when he took the job in August, he was concerned that some people viewed the cancellation as politically motivated. “I think we have to be seen as independent and nonpartisan,” he said in an interview Monday. “We serve the entire state. I don’t want people using our network to promote personal political agendas.”
Bierman says he doesn’t have details yet about new public affairs programming, but he noted that UNC-TV wants to find more ways to use its state government complex studio in downtown Raleigh. That studio moved out of the Legislative Building to make room for the legislature’s new basement press office, and is now up and running next door at the Administration Building.
UNC-TV will pursue more “opportunities to present in-depth analysis that promotes deeper understanding of issues,” Bierman said.
The only change to NC Spin mentioned in the news release is that UNC-TV veteran producer Kelly McCullen — who used to host shows like “Legislative Week in Review” and leads the station’s North Carolina Channel — will become a co-executive producer alongside Campbell.
Bierman said that change was made because Campbell wasn’t getting much feedback on his show from the station’s professional staff, and he stressed that McCullen’s involvement isn’t to put any “editorial control” over the program.
NC Spin’s new contract makes only minor changes to the funding of the show, which splits costs between UNC-TV and Campbell’s production company. But unlike the old contract, it specifies that fill-in hosts can’t be political consultants and lobbyists with clients or projects associated with a topic of discussion on the show.
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This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 6:00 PM.