Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations • Hacker News Board

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#41

Post by unethical_ban » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:44 PM UTC

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…

It will be the death of public radio and television in small markets. Not all stations are affected equally.

This is not a fiscal decision. This is a ideology that demonizes the open exchange of ideas and truth.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#42

Post by rectang » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:45 PM UTC

I wonder if now, shorn of the need to “bothsides” everything to justify government funding, public radio news will begin to reflect the political affiliations of its donor base more closely.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#43

Post by unethical_ban » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:45 PM UTC

munchler wrote: post #20

I listen to NPR every day and, honestly, I think this might be for the best. It's going to hurt for a while, but in the end, I think public broadcasting will be stronger when it stands on its own without interference from politicians.

It hasn't been interfered with until now, what are you talking about about?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#44

Post by BeetleB » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:45 PM UTC

Onawa wrote: post #27

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.

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…

> 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.

This isn't due to one man (Musk) or a rogue government agency, or even the executive branch.

This is Congress, which tells you how bad things have gotten.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#45

Post by tptacek » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:45 PM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #3

Does this mean the end of PBS?

No. What's really going to end PBS as we grew up with it is streaming. CPB is an vehicle for distributing public funding to PBS stations; only a small fraction of PBS station funding comes from CPB through the government.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#46

Post by aanet » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:45 PM UTC

Exhibit 39 on the List of American Institutions That Have Been Killed

shake my head

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#47

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:46 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #2

When I was a teenager in the 90s an old guy took me aside and told me there'd be a day we get rid of public radio, and a day we'd have our final serving of affordable tuna sushi, and that after that, I'd be living in what he deemed the future. One down.

[deleted]

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#48

Post by tptacek » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:46 PM UTC

softwaredoug wrote: post #31

This is a better outcome than Trump minions taking over CPB

What would they have been able to do? CPB mostly just funnels money to stations. They don't produce content.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#49

Post by dralley » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:46 PM UTC

munchler wrote: post #20

I listen to NPR every day and, honestly, I think this might be for the best. It's going to hurt for a while, but in the end, I think public broadcasting will be stronger when it stands on its own without interference from politicians.

NPR can also be a bit of a meme sometimes. Maybe it's just circumstance but every time I hear NPR for any period of time longer than about 20 minutes they do a segment on a topic like polyamory, how women are proudly reclaiming the word "bimbo", or people protesting the administration using interpretive dance.

It is certainly not programming with much mass market appeal.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#50

Post by nemomarx » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 5:46 PM UTC

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?