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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#391

Post by philistine »

93po wrote: post #229
monero-xmr wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it is so obviously misleading and incorrect that only the mainstream media could have perpetuated this unquestioned for decades. The federal money goes to member stations which then hands it right over to NPR to pay for programming, I believe it’s $500 per hour. It’s 1 layer of indirection but no one seemed to mention this in all of the reporting

I am also really annoyed when people repeat that it's only 15% government funded or whatever. It's a misrepresentation to the point of lying. Which is further reinforced by: if it's only 15%, why are you having to shut down? It's so dumb.

The CPB is closing, not PBS. PBS says it's 15% funding from federal sources. CPB, well they're closing so who knows.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#392

Post by dingnuts »

sugarpimpdorsey wrote: post #365
vel0city wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and then purchased by local PBS stations If those stations go off the air, who is buying that content? It's like arguing it doesn't matter if the stream dries up the plants don't get water from the stream, the plants get the water from the ground. Where did that water in the ground come from? The stream! You're right, these shows aren't going off the air tomorrow. But this does affect the funding for the shows prod…

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it's so absurd to torrent public media that you can just record directly with a TV tuner and rabbit ears

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#393

Post by autoexec »

bix6 wrote: post #145
munchler wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things that are supported by a durable majority of the population. I wish that included public broadcasting, but it doesn't. Personally, I'm tired of hearing conservatives whine about public broadcasting. This will at least shut them up for good.

I guess we should just support the post office with donations while we’re at it. That’ll work well!

Same with public schools, public parks, public sidewalks, public libraries, even police and fire departments. We have to give billionaires trillions in tax cuts while watching most Americans backslide into poverty so obviously it'd be fiscally irresponsible for the government to fund public services for the peasant class

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#394

Post by Boogie_Man »

mcphage wrote: post #375
Boogie_Man wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand and sympathize with the desire to directly equate every current social issue no matter how small with a social issue from the past as part of a larger "chain of social progress" because I think it originates with the desire to correct past injustices and treat everyone with respect and decency. I disagree that this is a useful or accurate way to engage in discussion about an entirely different and specif…

> The only way they are related is with this "chain of social progress" framework, and even within that framework, they are not the same issue. The way that they are related is that PBS childrens' shows deliberately address political content, and have done so for many years, and that is both important and good that they do so.

I agree with you generally, but the two points I want to make are that these shows are messaging politically (I know you agree with this, and I appreciate you saying so as many others in this thread do not agree), and that this political messaging is not inherently good in and of itself, and must be evaluated on a case by case basis, both for the "correctness" of the political messaging, and for potential concerns of alienating audiences when a specific case is included in a children's program.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#395

Post by unnamed76ri »

jeffbee wrote: post #260
unnamed76ri wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t think it might have something to do with the Internet and having access to all of the knowledge in the world on your phone? I’m glad libraries exist but a lack of traction if the idea were introduced today would have more to do with the impracticality of them than any political leanings. My town spent millions on a small expansion to the library this past year. A project that if it was in the private sector…

Your dumb little phone doesn't contain even the barest shadow of "all of the knowledge in the world" and the people who sincerely believe that are among those who are destroying America right now.

I guess we’re both fans of using hyperbole.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#396

Post by philistine »

dh2022 wrote: post #318
leviathant wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. If that's what you took from my post, I've miscommunicated. NPR has turned rightward. The entertainment shows are, without a doubt, liberal, on the American political spectrum. There are countless discussions and papers about the role empathy plays in successful entertainment. The editorial content has turned rightward - and the leadership has turned rightward. This has been ongoing for at least two decades, prob…

NPR was not rightward this past election, for sure. I don’t think NPR missed to report a single Kamala endorsement last fall.

OP is arguing nuances, and you seem to be intent to distill everything to a binary construct. Nuances are what runs the world, not binary groups.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#397

Post by Cyph0n »

legitster wrote: post #245
Cyph0n wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1. PBS Kids is a goldmine. Time to sails the high seas if you aren’t already :) The other tragedy is the PBS Kids Games app on iOS and Android. It is chock full of educational games that tie into the various shows.

As a reminder, none of these are going away (yet). So far this only affects smaller member stations and the larger bottom lines of PBS and NPR.

Glad to hear that, thanks for clarifying!

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#398

Post by emeril »

sugarpimpdorsey wrote: post #365
vel0city wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and then purchased by local PBS stations If those stations go off the air, who is buying that content? It's like arguing it doesn't matter if the stream dries up the plants don't get water from the stream, the plants get the water from the ground. Where did that water in the ground come from? The stream! You're right, these shows aren't going off the air tomorrow. But this does affect the funding for the shows prod…

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torrenting is a lot easier than using an antenna and ota dvr...

that said now that I have more than enough skills for these things...barely watch tv anymore anyway

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#399

Post by unnamed76ri »

BeetleB wrote: post #263
unnamed76ri wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll listen to snippets of right wing talk radio but it generally doesn’t take long before the exaggeration (Glenn Beck) or Trump idol worship (Clay Travis) get annoying. I like hearing perspectives on stories that I won’t hear elsewhere but in general, I don’t need very much political news in my life. I’m happier spending my time on audio books and podcasts. I’m not sure I’ve ever engaged with NPR beyond seeing cons…

> I’m not sure I’ve ever engaged with NPR beyond seeing conservatives mock some of their silliest propaganda headlines in the past few years. What about all the nonpolitical shows on NPR/PBS? Snap Judgement, This American Life, Prairie Home Companion, Nature, NOVA, etc. Lots of people watch PBS/NPR not for politics, but for the entertainment/educational content.

I’ve never watched any of them. Maybe Nova a few times when I was a kid.

PBS/NPR will be fine. Their business model might have to change but that might ultimately be a good thing.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#400

Post by radiofreeeuropa »

McAlpine5892 wrote: post #170
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #6

Carl Sagan's "The Demon Haunted World" was so prescient. So sad to see its worst predictions come true.

I am quite literally in the middle of reading this now [0]. This would be great required reading for high school students. Anyone that runs across this comment should put it at the top of their reading list. Most frustratingly, many people know how to be properly skeptical. To use Sagan's example, it comes out in full-force any time someone buys a used car. Never trust the dealer. Everybody knows that. I really appre…

I came to this book too late for the core message to resonate as far as mindset and methods (yeah, yeah, I found this path and walked at least this far on it already, you're preaching to the choir, should have read this when I was like 10 or 12 I guess...) but did make the mistake of dismissing an absolute chorus of warnings about anti-intellectualism from Sagan and a dozen other authors I read as a kid and in my 20s (which warnings, yes, were a significant component of this book)

They were all from roughly the same time period, and I thought their focus on that particular issue was overblown. A relic of the time they'd lived through and their efforts, which efforts had gotten us here, where anti-intellectualism is a curiosity, periodically an annoyance, but not a threat. Sure, we could swing back toward that being a real concern, but it'd take a while. We'd see it.

What's weird is I could also list a bunch of ways that we were swinging back toward it. I think on some level I just didn't believe that these kinds of big shifts backwards could happen, actually and not just in shootin'-the-shit discussions with friends, in my lifetime. Bumps on the road of progress, sure, but going backwards entirely? I even shied away from labeling authoritarian-enabling changes, policies, or actions "fascist", even as I literally protested some of them in the street—well, that's alarmist, surely. It's silly and childish that I was embarrassed of the term.

It's so damn foolish when I look back on it. I had so many of the particulars right, but just couldn't believe in something so big actually happening, I guess. I'd have told you that sure, it could, if you'd asked, even outlined a plausible path from here to there based on recent and current goings-on... but I didn't believe it might happen. Not really.

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