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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#141

Post by UncleOxidant »

another_twist wrote: post #52
legitster wrote: post #38

Contrary to the conservative spin over the years, I have found public broadcasting to be one of the least biased sources of headline news and information available. (For their national broadcasts at least - local ... can be hit or miss). In particular, their kids programming is the absolute best. Nothing flashy or exciting, but it's laser focused on education and has zero agenda. And the PBS kids apps are one of the…

Thats expected. In functioning democracies state media is run for the purpose not profit. It doesnt have the corrupting influence of political money. PBS in the US could be so much better. Just look at what BBC is able to do in the UK.

> PBS in the US could be so much better.

PBS Newshour is pretty much the best/balanced news programming on US TV at this point. They take deeper dives into issues than most of the other shows out there. And then there's Frontline which is excellent and goes even deeper with a documentary format. The rest of PBS - there are a few good parts like Nova, but a lot of what plays on PBS stations these days is UK crime dramas - man, there seems to be a lot of mayhem going on in merry old England these days.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#143

Post by jaredwiener »

atonse wrote: post #12

According to this page [1] PBS only receives about 15% of its funds from federal funding. The rest is from donations. 1: https://foundation.pbs.org/ways-to-give/gifts-to-the-pbs-end... So this certainly won't be the death of PBS, as I had feared. Update 2: For the record (easier to respond in this original post than to each response), I am not defending the decision at all. I grew up listening to NPR, and have been o…

PBS and NPR do not operate like the commercial networks --

ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox/Etc are big corporations that produce (or commission/license, it gets...weird) shows to be distributed on their affiliates, that, depending on the city you are in, can be owned by the network OR another company that operates it like a franchise. Their affiliate agreement governs how much of the network programming they play -- though there are other agreements for non-network programming -- Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune, for example, are syndicated and NOT network.

PBS on the other hand is more of a consortium of public TV stations around the country. Shows that you might think of as "PBS Shows" are actually produced by these individual stations and then distributed to other stations that want them. Even PBS Newshour and Washington Week are produced by WETA in DC.

Radio gets even more complicated. Many of the shows I've seen referenced on this thread aren't even necessarily NPR. Marketplace, for example, is American Public Media, which is sort of an outcropping from Minnesota Public Radio.

So funding going to ACTUAL PBS is a tiny part of this. What happens to the money going to various stations? What happens to the grants to produce and run these stations, especially in rural areas?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#145

Post by bix6 »

munchler wrote: post #92
Eisenstein wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are taxes for, then?

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!

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#148

Post by timr »

efitz wrote: post #101
thrownawaysz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Just at what BBC is able to do in the UK. This is funny because BBC is a prime example of being a propaganda channel for the government of the day. And that's not new at all just look back at the coverage of the Troubles or the miners strikes in the 70s-80s. Yes it's not on the level of CGTN or Russia Today but BBC is not neutral at all https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-biased-is-the-...

A lot of people are unable to see their own political bias; they look at BBC or Fox News and see “unbiased true reporting”. I highly suggest using Ground News (ground.news) for a week or a month as your sole portal into news stories, and then use their features to analyze bias in your selection of news stories and outlets. I use it regularly to try to offset my own biases.

I don't know about your suggested site, but I use foreign news for this. I have switched to "consuming news" [0] almost entirely from a variety of English-language foreign services.

All national media services have their own bias and propaganda, but if you switch them up it becomes obvious very quickly. It also means that I miss out on most of the US political noise [1], which is a benefit to my mental health [2].

[0] Hot/lukewarm take: "consuming news" is a waste of time, and should be minimized. This really hits you like a brick to the head when you see the stuff that foreign countries are obsessing about, and how tiny it feels to you. Guess what: your news media is filled with the same crap.

[1] I still get the foreign opinion on it, obviously, but this is usually pretty mild. Most countries don't care about the US nearly as much as US citizens think they do.

[2] If you think that CPB/NPR don't have bias, I strongly suggest that you try this. You're probably in a bubble, and an "international perspective" is something that most NPR listeners claim to value. Removing US media from my life eliminated a huge source of angst (particularly after 2016), and revealed that all of the major US media sources are various forms of hyper-polarized clownery.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#149

Post by tptacek »

vel0city wrote: post #114
tptacek wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public television and public radio isn't going anywhere, at least not anywhere any of the rest of linear media isn't already going.

Public television and public radio stations are literally being shut down, now, as per the topic article. Any station meaningfully relying on CPB is done.

I'm sure they will, but public funding for my local NPR and PBS stations amounts to something like 5% of their budget; they aren't going anywhere. NPR and PBS as institutions are more threatened by the Internet than they are by this funding cut.

I don't support the cut, but I get the vibe that many people commenting on this thread don't know what CPB is.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#150

Post by kristopolous »

legitster wrote: post #38

Contrary to the conservative spin over the years, I have found public broadcasting to be one of the least biased sources of headline news and information available. (For their national broadcasts at least - local ... can be hit or miss). In particular, their kids programming is the absolute best. Nothing flashy or exciting, but it's laser focused on education and has zero agenda. And the PBS kids apps are one of the…

I'm pretty sure it's because it's unbiased.

Do a mental exercise, if they had joined the MAGA loving trump train, would that have saved them?

Now you have your real answer. They're not going to fund anything unless it's a bunch of lackeys

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