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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#371

Post by technothrasher »

McAlpine5892 wrote: post #170
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #6

Carl Sagan's "The Demon Haunted World" was so prescient. So sad to see its worst predictions come true.

I am quite literally in the middle of reading this now [0]. This would be great required reading for high school students. Anyone that runs across this comment should put it at the top of their reading list. Most frustratingly, many people know how to be properly skeptical. To use Sagan's example, it comes out in full-force any time someone buys a used car. Never trust the dealer. Everybody knows that. I really appre…

> Sadly, we've lost Sagan and Randi.

I had the privilege of meeting both Sagan and Randi at different points. Along with Paul Kurtz, also sadly gone now, these were some of the most in influential people in the beginnings of the modern skeptical movement. If you aren't familiar with Prometheus books and CSICOP (now CSI), look them up. You'll find years worth of groundbreaking skeptical reading material.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#372

Post by ljsprague »

khuey wrote: post #40
Onawa wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dissolution and dismantling of US gov institutions that we are witnessing is unprecedented in modern times. Hell, a few of the agencies being attacked were created with bipartisan support. I would say it isn't that our institutions were built on sand, more that its hard to stop a madman who broke into your house with a chainsaw (a la Musk) from knocking down a few load-bearing walls. It is easier to destroy almos…

> Hell, a few of the agencies being attacked were created with bipartisan support. It's worse than that. PEPFAR was a signature initiative of the previous Republican president.

Why must everything be viewed as Democrat vs. Republican? Trump is best viewed as a case of outsider vs. entrenched bureaucracy / deep state. Party is irrelevant.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#373

Post by koolba »

legitster wrote: post #325
koolba wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> PBS Newshour is pretty much the best/balanced news programming on US TV at this point. Ah yes, the news show that has a weekly politics round table that brings in a balanced approach to see issues from both sides: The side of an anti-Trump Democrat and the side of an anti-Trump Republican. Good riddance!

How many pro-Trump Republicans actually want to engage in a fair round-table style debate? This administration makes a point that they only do interviews with sources favorable to them. They can't opt out of the media and then pretend to be victims.

> How many pro-Trump Republicans actually want to engage in a fair round-table style debate?

There's plenty to pick from. The problem is that having someone effective in that position would anger the one people that PBS actually cares about, their donor class. It doesn't matter that Trump won the popular vote in the most recent election, they'll still go out of their way to ensure that the token conservative voice is against him.

> This administration makes a point that they only do interviews with sources favorable to them. They can't opt out of the media and then pretend to be victims.

This is the most accessible and transparent administration in decades, if not longer. The POTUS has held more interviews, with just about every national media organization, and regularly holds open ended press conferences with pools of reporters.

What you're describing is the previous administration which not only hand selected the reporters, they even gave Biden a cheat sheet of reporters (with pictures!) so he would know exactly who to call on: https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-defends-bidens-cheat-sh...

Is that your paragon of media transparency?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#374

Post by CGMthrowaway »

terraqueous wrote: post #283
CGMthrowaway wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The show had six guests on- 2 left, 1 right, 2 neutral(?) and 1 CIA deep state mouthpiece. The show gave mostly balanced coverage of every issue covered, but declined to dig into the Epstein issue beyond "Trump+Epstein", gave the deep-stater seven minutes to defend the CIA without meaningfully pressing into any of the other questions raised by the latest declassifications (such as HRC & DNC involvement in orchestrati…

Texas already completed redistricting in 2021 after the most recent census (2020). They are only redrawing the maps again now because Trump is demanding an even more egregious gerrymander.

In that case I wish Newshour had made that detail plainer. I see now they lightly brush over it in the intro of the segment. Thank you for the clarification.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#375

Post by mcphage »

Boogie_Man wrote: post #341
mcphage wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I say it's political, I mean that it makes points without nuance on historical and current issues which range from widely accepted and important ideas [...] to what I would consider less widely agreed upon and important ideas Another example of this: when Mr. Rogers invited an African American neighbor to share his pool. It certainly wasn't widely agreed upon at the time.

I understand and sympathize with the desire to directly equate every current social issue no matter how small with a social issue from the past as part of a larger "chain of social progress" because I think it originates with the desire to correct past injustices and treat everyone with respect and decency. I disagree that this is a useful or accurate way to engage in discussion about an entirely different and specif…

> The only way they are related is with this "chain of social progress" framework, and even within that framework, they are not the same issue.

The way that they are related is that PBS childrens' shows deliberately address political content, and have done so for many years, and that is both important and good that they do so.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#376

Post by radiofreeeuropa »

TimorousBestie wrote: post #276
hitekker wrote: post #243

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.

In medical jargon, sure. In common usage, including among medical professionals, it's extremely common to just say "baby" in many contexts, especially when the baby is wanted and expected to be viable and brought to term. Nobody but a few weirdos or people trying to make some kind of a joke are gonna say to their partner "oh, did they give you any pictures of our fetus from the ultrasound? Oh look at our fetus' tiny little hands!"

(I'm pro-choice but think the "acksually they're fetuses" angle is fucking gross, both on an intellectually-honest debate level because it's semantic bullshit, and because it absolutely reads as a move toward dehumanization, and I hate to provide reasons for those kinds of accusations from pro-lifers to ring true)

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#377

Post by tacon »

autoexec wrote: post #354
testplzignore wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Joan Kroc gave NPR its biggest gift ever, $200 million. Alas, that was unusual.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#378

Post by nabwodahs »

9x39 wrote: post #359
TimorousBestie wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It's a style guide; not "verbal sleight-of-hand." It codifies what terms should be used by their reporters, and refers to the AP style guide.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#379

Post by nabwodahs »

aydyn wrote: post #351
TimorousBestie wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

He didn't say it was.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#380

Post by nabwodahs »

lenkite wrote: post #323
nabwodahs wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you cite specific examples of this "bias?"

> Can you cite specific examples of this "bias?" Read https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-tru... by NPR veteran that shows how NPR developed a left wing bias over time. Also at https://archive.is/H7QNM https://washingtonstand.com/news/npr-has-zero-republicans-87... NPR Has Zero Republicans, 87 Democrats on Editorial Staff

"NPR Has Zero Republicans, 87 Democrats on Editorial Staff"

How many "Republicans" applied?

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