This paper on innovations in public affairs education begins by enumerating some of the newer available means of communication--slow-scan television, computers, tape recordings, games and models, telephone instruction, multiple channel FM radio, libraries of tapes and slides--and discusses proposals to interconnect educational television facilities. It also describes eight programs, existing or planned, of public affairs education or paramedical training in the United States and Canada (Twin Cities Town Meeting, Great Decisions, Metroplex Assembly in St. Louis, CBC Cross-Country Checkup, a CBS news discussion in depth series, and training at Wake Forest College, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco). Finally, questions are raised as to why formal educational institutions are so little involved in the field of public affairs education, whether there is a need for a coordinated national approach to the education of the American public on public issues, and what additional educational services are necessary to transform a broadcast into an educational experience. (ly)