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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#231

Post by TimorousBestie »

nabwodahs wrote: post #124
smithkl42 wrote: post #76

> Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said. If that was true, losing the CPB would be a travesty. But as a loyal NPR listener for decades, I've found their stuff lately to be unlistenable. It's Fox, but for the Left, and with a bit more of an…

Can you cite specific examples of this "bias?"

Here’s Fox reporting on NPR’s bias: https://www.foxnews.com/media/npr-head-asks-critics-show-me-...

As you can see, it’s mostly gotcha quotes and unfair glosses. For example:

> NPR also called America’s interstate highways racist. I did not know our highways were racist. I thought they were concrete, but not according to NPR.

Of course, it’s a historical fact that many minority neighborhoods were bulldozed to make room for interstate highway development, among them Cincinnati, OH and St. Louis, MO.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-freeways-flattened-black...

But of course this history that actually happened is interpreted as Reuters’ liberal bias. There’s no winning this.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#233

Post by radiofreeeuropa »

nemomarx wrote: post #50
thevillagechief wrote: post #13

Woah! This stuff is unwinding faster than my priors. I'm going to have to re-evaluate everything I thought true about the US. I just always assumed "strong institutions" meant something here. That it was all a house built on sand is disconcerting.

Large groups voting for "tear it all down, we don't trust institutions" wasn't a sign for you back in 2016? what were your priors before this year?

My "holy shit, we're in for... interesting times, and like, soon" moment was when Trump suggested his supporters might shoot Hillary if she won ("If she wins, I can't do anything about it. But the 'Second Amendment people'...."), and didn't see a huge hit to his popularity, and supporters in his own camp distancing themselves, immediately.

Norms are dead, you can just suggest assassination of your opponent and still win a Presidential election now, the batshit crazy stuff's not just for races in rural Montana or whatever. Like, IDK how this reads to younger folks, but I assure them that things are now happening practically daily that would have been unthinkable 15 years ago, let alone farther back. Things got visibly weirder fast.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#234

Post by throwawayohio »

Commenters in this thread citing NPR as a reason that dollars shouldn't go towards helping kids learn how to count and not be antisocial is the kind of win right wing media could only dream about a decade or so ago.

Absolutely embarrassing for a site like this that claims to value education and democratizing it (and always jumps into threads about childrens education with all of their anecdotally built ideas, of course!) isn't condemning this.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#235

Post by abeppu »

As with many things, I wonder if we should start unbundling services the federal government provides. If many states like public broadcasting, what if a pool of states were to opt-in to continuing to fund it (and decide whether to limit it to supporting stations in those states)?

Some things (defense, diplomacy) perhaps can only be done through the federal government. But so many things (national weather service operations, HUD housing assistance, grants for local PBS stations, SNAP benefits) have a largely local or regional benefit. Rather than disassembling these things entirely, why not allow them each to be run by and for a coalition of states (or even cities?) which opt to participate?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#236

Post by timr »

JeremyNT wrote: post #200
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.

Of course, if you live in a large metro the local stations will survive due to large numbers of wealthy and middle class benefactors. This is not necessarily so if you live in a typical red state middle size city or less. Somewhat ironically a lot of the extreme cuts (this included) only serve to reinforce the status of major blue state metros as more desirable, since they have more resources available to fill the ga…

> Somewhat ironically a lot of the extreme cuts (this included) only serve to reinforce the status of major blue state metros as more desirable, since they have more resources available to fill the gaps left by federal austerity.

If the people in the red states aren't willing to pay for it, it would seem that they don't think it's desirable. Capitalism is funny that way.

I get that you're trying to say that the pie is smaller overall, but the principle still applies.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#237

Post by buerkle »

setsewerd wrote: post #115
smithkl42 wrote: post #76

> Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said. If that was true, losing the CPB would be a travesty. But as a loyal NPR listener for decades, I've found their stuff lately to be unlistenable. It's Fox, but for the Left, and with a bit more of an…

Yeah I've been bummed by how far NPR has swerved leftward, especially since 2016. Even ten years ago I liked tuning in because it was quality journalism that still made an honest effort to cover multiple sides of an issue, even if the topics they chose were primarily "liberal" topics. But yeah, now they seem just as tribal as Fox.

Not every side deserves to be covered for each story. This is the problem with major media today, they give equal opportunity to people that have no idea what they are talking about. It's like one side says 2+2=4, the other 2+2=5, and media gives them equal air time.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#238

Post by unnamed76ri »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #209
dragonwriter wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm pretty certain that if public libraries didn't already exist and someone proposed the idea now it would be labeled "woke" and "socialist" and not get anywhere. Public libraries do already exist and they are labeled "woke" and "socialist" and are dealing with both assaults on their funding and on their function.

True. I'm fortunate to live in a community that funds it's public libraries well, but I do know that downstate there are rural communities that have completely defunded theirs. I just don't think the idea of public libraries would get any traction now given how far to the right we've gone.

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 would have cost a couple hundred grand at most. I can’t tell how they managed to spend as much as they did.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#239

Post by burnte »

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 agree. I swore off of cable news many years ago because they're ALL toxic. They all have to keep people watching so it's stuffed full of breathless journalism making you think something major is happening any moment now. We'd all be better served with NO 24/7 news networks at all. NPR is not breathless, and is very fair.

I hated Fox News because it's so full of lies. I hated CNN because it's making mountains out of molehills and manufactured outrage. MSNBC was less yellow, but it's still full of opinion shows engineered to make you upset. NPR didn't do that, ever. They'd say when democrats screwed up just as much as when republicans did. It was true.

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