The Push for a “PBS for the Internet” • Hacker News Board

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

#121

Post by hcurtiss » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:47 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #98

jonas21 wrote: post #88

If you look at the history of the Public Broadcasting Act [1] that established the CPB and eventually PBS, it seems clear that it was passed in response to poorly-funded educational programming not being able to compete with high-budget commercial network TV. Its authors wanted to make it easier for smaller, non-commercial entities to produce and distribute high-quality educational content. In that regard, the Intern…

I think that's debatable. As much as journalism has been democratized it's also nose-dived in quality. And I don't mean the MSM. The overwhelming majority of "citizen journalists" are producing very low quality or even downright detrimental work. At the same time, a lot of professional journalism has sacrificed quality for revenue. Public media like PBS and NPR affiliates are intended to promote professional journali…

A profit motive is not necessarily bad. Likewise, there are other ulterior motives that may inform "public broadcasting." There's a fine line between publicly-funded journalism and state-sponsored propaganda.

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

#122

Post by lsiebert » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:49 PM UTC

nwatson wrote: post #34

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 afr…

It's centrist, it's just that looking at facts instead of simply accepting what politicians say at face value often tends to lead to support for political talking points from the left.

This isn't intrinsic to left or right wing ideologies, there are plenty of areas where nobody has a monopoly on good policy, but when it comes to Democratic and Republican political leaders, The Dems look to scientific consensus (climate change, public health, economic disparities) and factual information in deciding on policy outcomes, while the GOP has a preferred set of outcomes they are looking to support.

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

#123

Post by joemi » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:50 PM UTC

systemvoltage wrote: post #67

duxup wrote: post #7

Well there is: https://www.pbs.org/video/ Also PBS has a great kids games app(s) that are free with games that are fun / no ads. And PBS kids video app is again free, great content, no ads. If you're in the US and care about that content, I suggest contributing to your local station. The quality of the content from kids to adult is outstanding. It's not usual for me to browse a few streaming services and just end up…

Orthogonal: Can we pause for a moment and admire how amazing the PBS logo is? They've kept it for many years and haven't fallen to "trends". Here is some history: https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/PBS

I'm not sure what counts in your book as many years considering that page shows the latest one is from 2019. Also, not sure what counts as trends, considering their previous logo had a gradient added (which was trendy then, or a few years before then), and the current one is definitely a flat logo in comparison (which is also trendy, though it was a bigger trend a few years ago) and they changed the font drastically.

If you were just referring to the head element of the logo, I do like that element -- it's very recognizable and hasn't changed much over the years. Though I never knew (until looking at the page you linked to) that it's shaped like that because it was originally flipped on the Y axis and used as a 'P'.

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

#124

Post by toomim » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:51 PM UTC

AnonymousOne wrote: post #20

JohnWhigham wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, this article is pretty hilarious and is just another example of how mainstream media continues to stick their noses up at any consideration of alternative viewpoints. PBS has largely followed the herd and has become yet another liberal lifestyle outlet that caters only to their liberal audience. How about we fix that first before talking about something else?

^Low-quality comment. PBS is consistently rated as a reliable and unbiased source of information. You think it's a "liberal lifestyle outlet", but what evidence do you have to support this claim? What is your unbiased alternative? Maybe you should watch this series ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4aNmdL3Hr0&list=PL8dPuuaLjX...

> PBS is consistently rated as a reliable and unbiased source of information.

Not quite -- PBS is rated reliable but biased left: https://www.adfontesmedia.com/static-mbc/

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

#125

Post by snarf21 » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:52 PM UTC

jonas21 wrote: post #88

If you look at the history of the Public Broadcasting Act [1] that established the CPB and eventually PBS, it seems clear that it was passed in response to poorly-funded educational programming not being able to compete with high-budget commercial network TV. Its authors wanted to make it easier for smaller, non-commercial entities to produce and distribute high-quality educational content. In that regard, the Intern…

Well said. For argument's sake, let's say there is a PBS run Twitter clone? Who gets to decide what is allowed or not? So much of the social media space is built on using fomo and outrage to push agendas. These are the things that make it sticky. It seems clear that most people want the addiction, they want the drama. I think we can shrink the power of some of these companies with VAT on digital advertising, but even so, what is going to replace them? Something so bad we can't even imagine it now? It kinda feels a little like the one part of the Matrix where they reveal that the initial Matrix was intended to make everyone just mindlessly happy all the time but it didn't work until they made it mostly miserable. Happiness without sadness might just be too boring for humans. That said, humans love to belong so I don't know how we ever have a Internet without centralization. People always want to be with everyone else.

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

#126

Post by methodin » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:53 PM UTC

CamTin wrote: post #37

Mizza wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why is having an impact on discourse important? It should not be the job of any media to alter arguments, viewpoints etc... it's job is to provide the facts for people to make their own opinions. The fact that we think media should be able to shape opinion is really the main problem here. Cable news chases profits and profits come from viewership which gets us into that negative feedback loop. Take away money and a lot of problems disappear.

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

#127

Post by lazyeye » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

jonas21 wrote: post #88

If you look at the history of the Public Broadcasting Act [1] that established the CPB and eventually PBS, it seems clear that it was passed in response to poorly-funded educational programming not being able to compete with high-budget commercial network TV. Its authors wanted to make it easier for smaller, non-commercial entities to produce and distribute high-quality educational content. In that regard, the Intern…

"The bill would, for example, give a tax credit to people who donate to nonprofit newsrooms"

I'm guessing the overwhelming majority of these nonprofit newsrooms will end up being party-aligned so this will effectively be giving tax credits for political donations.

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

#128

Post by sidlls » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #98

jonas21 wrote: post #88

If you look at the history of the Public Broadcasting Act [1] that established the CPB and eventually PBS, it seems clear that it was passed in response to poorly-funded educational programming not being able to compete with high-budget commercial network TV. Its authors wanted to make it easier for smaller, non-commercial entities to produce and distribute high-quality educational content. In that regard, the Intern…

I think that's debatable. As much as journalism has been democratized it's also nose-dived in quality. And I don't mean the MSM. The overwhelming majority of "citizen journalists" are producing very low quality or even downright detrimental work. At the same time, a lot of professional journalism has sacrificed quality for revenue. Public media like PBS and NPR affiliates are intended to promote professional journali…

That may be the intent, but the result is that PBS and NPR still tailor their news content to their supporters' desires (or what, perhaps, editors at these organizations believe are the desires).

NPR especially is terrible at presenting real journalism. When it's not "both sides get equal time, even if there's only one fact-based side", it's vanity puff piece interviews and similar content, just like for-profit networks. There is also a very real bias in their political coverage toward mainstream, center-right politicians. These days that'd be "centrist" democrats, mainly, but they didn't get the monicker "Nice Polite Republicans" for no reason....

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

#129

Post by lazyeye » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 7:00 PM UTC

lsiebert wrote: post #111

fud7r7rgtf wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What actually qualifies as misinformation? I see lots of things these days that fall under that label that would simply have been called gossip in the past and covered from the perspective of exploring popular gossip.

Examples of Misinformation: scientifically debunked ideas like the idea vaccines cause autism Ideas with zero basis in reality like the idea that most or all mass shootings are actually faked using "crisis actors" Political conspiracy theories like the idea that Bernie Sanders would have been the democratic candidate for president, but was cheated by Hillary Clinton. Misrepresented ideas, like how certain people on t…

The idea that misinformation occurs along party lines is, in itself, misinformation.

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

#130

Post by minikites » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 7:03 PM UTC

There should be more publicly funded media of all kinds. It significantly improves society to have art, entertainment, and educational materials created without a profit motive in mind.