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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

cpb.org

351–360 of 646 posts

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re fetuses." from https://wamu.org/story/19/05/15/guidance-reminder-on-abortio... I'm not against abortion. In fact, I actually see the legal necessity of it in an overpopulating world. But NPR's bias on the front does not align with my own bias or, I think, with most people. Everyone has bias and that's perfectly human. The problem is when we don't own up to it. NPR t…

> Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re fetuses. This is a factual statement with accurate medical terminology. We don’t call them meteorites until they hit the earth, either.

I hate to have to inform you of this, but "babies" is not a medical term.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#352
post #235

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 oper…

> 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.

You should look up which states/regions/counties provide the funding and which states/regions/counties receive the benefits, it's disproportional. Unironically, unbundling HUD, SNAP, and NWS would probably cause famine in Mississippi.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not what "public" means in ordinary language. Public is intended to mean "supported by taxes". Support by donations is always dependent on the largest donor.

>Public is intended to mean "supported by taxes". For you, probably, for me it means "from/for the people".

See my comment below: in usual terms, in Europe “public” means technically “supported by taxes” -which is why most “public” media is most of the time pro-government (bar inertia).

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#354
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…

Per https://cpb.org/funding , $357m goes to public tv and $119m to public radio. That's a nice chunk of change, though low enough that a few friendly billionaires could put some pocket change into a trust today and make up for this funding in perpetuity. And there undoubtedly will be a massive surge in donations from small donors in response to this. As long as the bigger fish are willing to subsidize the smaller rur…

A few friendly billionaires could have funded them entirely for the last 60 years. I see no reason to think that they suddenly will now. Many stations will be closed, and people will lose out on valued programing.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think public broadcasting will be stronger when it stands on its own without interference from politicians. What does the "public" in "public broadcasting" mean to you?

Ideally, it would be entirely non-commercial, funded by direct donations from the public.

Then it becomes an organization dominated by those who donate the most -- and there have already been cases where a PBS affiliate self-censored and modified its editorial in an attempt to placate a potential donor[0].

[0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/05/27/a-word-from-ou...

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#356
post #280
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

We have a capitalist economy, not a capitalist society. The government exists to fill gaps where the market fails. CPB is one example of this. USPS is another. People who look at these organizations like businesses are fools.

> We have a capitalist economy, not a capitalist society.

Last time I checked, "society" is a concept defined entirely by the behaviors and preferences of the people within it. You may want society not to be capitalist, but that's your opinion.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#357
post #229

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.

Please check my link again. It's from PBS.

Are you suggesting that PBS is misinforming people about how much of PBS's funds are government funded?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#358

> 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…

Considering that reporting factual information gets blamed as left wing bullshit... I don't think your post has merit.

See: COVID, vaccines, climate change. You have one side explicitly denying what we can do with the scientific method and decades of peer reviewed research, and then blaming anyone who contradicts them as biased sources.

Comparing to Fox News is even more ridiculous. You say that them knowing they're spouting bullshit is better than the people not spouting bullshit at all?

Cmon now. Take the group that is actually trying to engage in good faith rather than the one that is knowingly producing crap. Maybe this is why people voted for Trump: he told them what he is, and they liked the honesty.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re fetuses." from https://wamu.org/story/19/05/15/guidance-reminder-on-abortio... I'm not against abortion. In fact, I actually see the legal necessity of it in an overpopulating world. But NPR's bias on the front does not align with my own bias or, I think, with most people. Everyone has bias and that's perfectly human. The problem is when we don't own up to it. NPR t…

> Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re fetuses. This is a factual statement with accurate medical terminology. We don’t call them meteorites until they hit the earth, either.

It's verbal sleight of hand in the cultural tug-of-war to emphasize or de-emphasize the future human. The point is that massaged language blunts or sharpens its impact, and an org's political choices therein reflect the bias.

Meteorites don't have that baggage.

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