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The Push for a “PBS for the Internet”

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

#171

Post by mandmandam »

pfraze wrote: post #116
mandmandam wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iljhDaowoLc , in which Fox News calls him an "evil, evil man", for making children grow up with self esteem.

This folds into the general class of calls-to-inaction which they use to pass off systemic problems. "Why are millenials poor and expecting more? Perhaps they were raised wrong by TV. Let's not examine it further." I personally didn't see shots at Mr Rogers get much further than this weak Fox segment among conservatives, for what it's worth.

Fox News ran a hit piece on one of the kindest and most beloved educators in America. It's obvious (to some) that they did this to divert from systemic problems. That's what they do, and they're still allowed to call themselves News.

At what point do Americans stand up for a bare minimum level of journalism?

And remember, that while Fox might not have gotten far with this particular piece in your experience, they sent this six minute piece out to millions of people. They wrote it, filmed it, and aired it. They never apologised.

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

#173

Post by jacobr1 »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #146
lsiebert wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (clima…

It's not centrist. It's pro status quo. "Things are mostly OK, and in the few cases where they're a little bit bad, we're here to tell you about them."

Is there a meaningful difference? Isn't your definition of status-quo more or less the position taken by "centrists"?

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

#174

Post by relaxing »

WalterBright wrote: post #147
tootie wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> without the corruption of a profit motive That's a fantasy. The people who provide the money always call the tune, even if it's the government, even if it's donations. A more effective system is one that does not attempt to deny human nature, but takes advantage of it.

Very true. I remember vividly growing up in the 1980s and watching Big Bird explain the moral hazard of government-subsidized school lunches. The segment where Super Grover delivered weapons to Iranian forces in Iraq in exchange for funds for CIA-backed rebel groups in Nicaragua seemed rather convoluted and, frankly, outlandish, but I accepted it with an open mind.

These days I am more wise to the ways of the world, and it seems clear that had PBS’s intrusion into the free market not driven out private investment in educational television, I could have instead been exposed to superior, corporate-sponsored values. Alas.

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

#175

Post by lazyeye »

lsiebert wrote: post #150
lazyeye wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Please cite your source for that? My understanding, based on studies like the one discussed here, is that misinformation does tend to be concentrated along partisan extremes. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/06/974394783/far-right-misinform... That said, it's absolutely true that it wasn't just democrats pushing the idea that bernie sander's was cheated. It was also russian disinformation campaign. https://www.wired.com/s…

Source: commonsense and a basic understanding of human nature.

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

#176

Post by babesh »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #141
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…

Large content platforms don't curate content, and so incentives are misaligned. I believe "curated content without click-baity incentives" is the kind of thing a "PBS" tries to solve. E.g.: an educational video will be followed by flat-earth conspiracy video if the YouTube algorithm choses so. This sabotages content producers with – in this case – educational intentions, as the platform will make producers compete fo…

The corollary to not empowering anyone to push content is disempowering some from pushing content. That is incredibly bad because gives some the power to limit the voices of others. History shows that this power is abused and that the abuse of this power is worse than disinformation.

If you look at what is happening today, this call for censorship in the name of combating disinformation has actually had no effect on disinformation. Instead, its real intended effect is to consolidate greater and greater powers of censorship in those who seek that power.

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

#177

Post by WA9ACE »

claudiulodro wrote: post #170
WA9ACE wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No worries! My apologies if I came off brash, you may have been right about the origins of the kids games. We're currently hiring for engineers to work on them! https://www.pbs.org/about/careers/current-openings/?gnk=job&...

Quick question if you know the answer: is that position remote-friendly/where is it located? There doesn't seem to be any location info on that listing.

I'd love to answer that, but I honestly don't know.

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

#178

Post by tootie »

WalterBright wrote: post #147
tootie wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> without the corruption of a profit motive That's a fantasy. The people who provide the money always call the tune, even if it's the government, even if it's donations. A more effective system is one that does not attempt to deny human nature, but takes advantage of it.

If the money comes from listeners (and most of it does) then they are beholden to listeners. It's quite different than being beholden to companies.

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

#179

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

jacobr1 wrote: post #173
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not centrist. It's pro status quo. "Things are mostly OK, and in the few cases where they're a little bit bad, we're here to tell you about them."

Is there a meaningful difference? Isn't your definition of status-quo more or less the position taken by "centrists"?

Well, in terms of whatever the current Overton Window is, that's probably true.

But if you view "left", "right" and "center" as having slightly more absolute definitions than the constantly shifting Overton Window, it's not really the same. "pro status quo" in an authoritarian fascist regime would not correspond to "center" on this absolute scale, even if in the context of that society, it might be roughly in the middle of the OW.

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

#180

Post by danielkim1 »

claudiulodro wrote: post #170
WA9ACE wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No worries! My apologies if I came off brash, you may have been right about the origins of the kids games. We're currently hiring for engineers to work on them! https://www.pbs.org/about/careers/current-openings/?gnk=job&...

Quick question if you know the answer: is that position remote-friendly/where is it located? There doesn't seem to be any location info on that listing.

I just had a phone screen with them last week! Remote is possible, but unlikely. Their office is next to the Crystal City metro station on the blue line.
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