Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 303 posts

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#31

Post by wizzwizz4 »

tekromancr wrote: post #10
Mizza wrote: post #5

But PBS is already on the internet.. I love public media and have worked in the public media industry, and what I think what we really need is PBS for conservatives. Can you name a _single_ conservative PBS/NPR host or program? Was there a _single_ time in the past 5 years they gave any legitimate consideration to the viewpoints that 50% of the country hold, or acknowledged the material conflict underlying their ideo…

It's almost like Alex Jones/qanon/alt-right/whatever are the logical conclusions of the conservative ideology.

There is no “the conservative ideology” – unless you define the phrase in a way that makes your statement a tautology.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#32

Post by Mizza »

tekromancr wrote: post #10
Mizza wrote: post #5

But PBS is already on the internet.. I love public media and have worked in the public media industry, and what I think what we really need is PBS for conservatives. Can you name a _single_ conservative PBS/NPR host or program? Was there a _single_ time in the past 5 years they gave any legitimate consideration to the viewpoints that 50% of the country hold, or acknowledged the material conflict underlying their ideo…

It's almost like Alex Jones/qanon/alt-right/whatever are the logical conclusions of the conservative ideology.

It would be equally as foolish to say the logical conclusion of liberalism is Stalinism. The underlying fallacy is the idea that politics has any conclusions at all.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#34

Post by nwatson »

jds_ wrote: post #6

I would like to note that PBS does actually publish Youtube videos via PBS Digital Studios[0][1]. They have great creators making PBS quality content but in "Youtube" style formats with a wide range of topics (science, popular culture, art, food, news, and music). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS_Digital_Studios [1] https://www.youtube.com/c/pbsdigitalstudios/channels

We watch the full PBS NewsHour most nights, simulcast/streamed live on YouTube (also available on all/most PBS affiliates) ... and it's available for later viewing as well. Some would say it leans a bit left but I think it's the best unbiased presentation of (U.S.) national concerns. They get wide access for interview to the most relevant American and non-American persons across a wide range of topics and are not afraid to pose the tough questions.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#35

Post by cnorthwood »

marbletiles wrote: post #23

> decentralizing the distribution of quality news This is laudable - but it ignores the reality of aggregators and user behaviour in the attention economy. The audience is centralised, and increasingly so. The question becomes: how can a pluralistic public-service ecosystem flourish within that economy? In the UK the BBC has tried a number of routes for this, including sponsoring local reporters, external linking to…

Yep, it is odd. There's also an entire piece of R&D that the BBC are doing that I know people on called "Public Service Internet" https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/public-service-internet

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#36

Post by throwawaysea »

This is what it says under "why it matters" in this article:

> Revamping the structure and role of public media could be part of the solution to shoring up local media, decentralizing the distribution of quality news, and constraining Big Tech platforms' amplification of harmful or false information.

Instead of creating another single content creator who can come with their own biases, what I would rather see is a government-run platform. The motivation above about constraining amplification of harmful or false information sounds too close to amplifying only what information the government wants to put out (in other words, propaganda). I would rather see a platform because it could be free of information control and censorship from a small set of Silicon Valley conglomerates.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#37

Post by CamTin »

Mizza wrote: post #26
setpatchaddress wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I don't think this comment really needs to be addressed, but since you're making my point for me: public media doesn't need to chase ratings, and thus doesn't need to chase outrage, allowing for more nuanced and in-depth reporting.

If you don't chase ratings, you're not chasing viewers, and you're not having much impact on discourse. The current toxic sludge of cable news sprouted up decades after public broadcasting had been around.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#38

Post by starkd »

rrose wrote: post #27
1-6 wrote: post #2

If we just focus on video just a sec and not the ENTIRE INTERNET, PBS seems increasingly irrelevant in an era where YouTube has narrowed the gap between content creators and content consumers. I remember the 90's being filled with pledge drives so PBS can raise funding. The content was good at the time but it's no where near what YouTube has become. If we go back to this original article linked, who gets to decide wh…

i understand the worry about the government gatekeeping disinformation/misinformation, but I think the worry is massively overblown. We're not talking about the government having a monopoly on the information ecosystem, and while there are certainly controversial topics where the government might be tempted to but their thumb on the scale if they had control over the news, the truth in most cases (climate change, the…

A politician you can theoretically "vote out of office" can be more insidious than big business ever could. Regarding a politician, only collective action can remedy the situation. At least, with business, you get immediate remedy by going elsewhere. And maybe eventual long term remedy if enough people do likewise. Of course, even big business can become too big as to stifle competition.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#39

Post by _delirium »

nikkinana wrote: post #33

I love government sponsored content for free, that's where I get all of my news and stuff. Except, wait, what, PBS isn't free? Don't we already pay taxes?

PBS is kind of a hybrid, with partial public funding, but with the majority of its funding coming from other revenue sources. It gets around 15% of its budget through grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which in turn is funded by the federal government), the rest through a mix of fundraising and subscriptions. Some local PBS affiliates also get state/local support, or are hosted by a public entity like a university. That seems to have been Congress's intent, that it would be supported in part by federal funding, but not be a fully publicly run organization like the BBC.

Re: The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

#40

Post by dotcommand »

Pushed by whom? The German Marshall Fund? Oh a state think tank.

Why? "way to shift the power dynamics in today's information wars." So PBS, NPR, etc were originally created to participate in information wars. Sort of like government funded propaganda? Is that what she is implying here?

"constraining Big Tech platforms' amplification of harmful or false information." That's strange. Because Big Tech platforms amply authoritative sources - which most likely includes PBS.

https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/the-four-rs-of-responsib...

I'm all for more competition. More options. It isn't healthy that we have such concentration of power in a few "algorithms". Not sure the "PBS of the Internet" will challenge it no more than C-SPAN challenged cable news.

Post reply on HN