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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#411

Post by joshuahaglund »

tptacek wrote: post #296

This is a giant thread full of people lamenting the demise of public broadcasting so it seems like someone should write the comment that points out that CPB doesn't do PBS programming. They don't develop content. They're a grantmaking organization that manages the distribution of the congressional PBS appropriation. The actual PBS and NPR shows you're familiar with are generally developed and produced privately, and…

> The actual PBS and NPR shows you're familiar with are generally developed and produced privately

Off the top of my head, two programs I watch that get CPB funding include: Frontline https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/about-us/our-funders/ NOVA https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/funders/

This is one place some sorta "trickle down" economics worked. CPB contributed to developing the content on PBS. Now PBS either has to cut costs by either canceling programs or ordering cheaper content that corporate sponsors like, run more pledge drives, or seek more corporate sponsors. None of those are appealing to me.

Also CPB helps keep rural stations open means all the niche local productions about state history or geology or whatever can happen.

It's a cut to the already strained budget of a wonderful resource. I'd be surprised if there weren't lost jobs and less quality as a result.

Edit to add: Just sentimental but I'll miss hearing "this program was made possible by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions from viewers like you!"

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#412

Post by exasperaited »

legitster wrote: post #88
another_twist wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats expected. In functioning democracies state media is run for the purpose not profit. It doesnt have the corrupting influence of political money. PBS in the US could be so much better. Just look at what BBC is able to do in the UK.

BBC is a bad example because they clearly cater to local politics and their monopoly on programming and news for large swaths of their country is not particularly healthy. State media is inherently going to be pro-establishment and failures to report on their own internal scandals I think should give everyone pause about being all-in on something like the BBC.

Monopoly?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#414

Post by autoexec »

rectang wrote: post #208
at-fates-hands wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conservative here. I wasn't very happy with the PBS defunding. One of their best shows was Frontline and the amount of just straight down the middle documentaries they did was great. For a lot of the issues that became very politicized, I would regularly turn to them for an unbiased view of what was going on. I agree on the educational stuff as well. How many generations of kids grew up watching PBS kids shows? My pa…

I’m socially liberal by American standards, but on the subject of government funding for media I feel like a small-c conservative. Government funded media faces constant pressure to become propaganda. I’m rather looking forward to public radio programming that would strike you as liberally biased, now that public radio productions no longer have to please Republicans in government.

Do you have examples where PBS or NPR were forced by the government to spew maga talking points? You'd think that if public media in the US were busy pleasing Republicans all day and all night they wouldn't have had their funding cut

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#415

Post by ndiddy »

tptacek wrote: post #296

This is a giant thread full of people lamenting the demise of public broadcasting so it seems like someone should write the comment that points out that CPB doesn't do PBS programming. They don't develop content. They're a grantmaking organization that manages the distribution of the congressional PBS appropriation. The actual PBS and NPR shows you're familiar with are generally developed and produced privately, and…

PBS stations in major markets will likely be able to carry on due to donations and corporate underwriting, but stations in rural areas (the types of places where Internet streaming is less viable due to poor infrastructure) will be heavily affected. Some rural stations get up to half their budgets from the CPB, and these cuts will likely make them have to shut down. In heavily rural states like West Virginia, Alaska, New Mexico, and Montana, the average public media station relies on CPB funding for over 30% of its budget. All of those stations are now at risk. More information: https://current.org/2025/04/heres-how-much-public-media-reli...

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#416

Post by jhoechtl »

radiofreeeuropa wrote: post #312
heavyset_go wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Local reporting is basically dead outside of metro areas. Sure, you can stream, but the content will be focused on another locale or won't address local issues.

When I'm not busy worrying about everything else, I worry that there's assuredly an explosion of local corruption, especially outside of cities large enough to still have something resembling actual local news media, that we can't even begin to get a handle on because it's... well, it's invisible now, that's why it's (surely—I mean, we can't possibly think corruption is dropping or even remaining steady, with the dea…

For some your comment might sound even comic but it is damn true. It safens me that the dangerous spiral is not seen by many others.

After all, the milenia old adage "bread and games" silences to many.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#417

Post by autoexec »

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.

Freedom means you're allowed to own enough rope to hang yourself with. We've always been one or two elections away from our own destruction.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#418

Post by Eisenstein »

SoftTalker wrote: post #133
Eisenstein wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are taxes for, then?

Voluntary vs. Compelled is the difference.

Are you saying that non-commercial broadcasting does not count as a public good, or that taxes should be voluntary, or that it does count as a public good but taxes should not be spent on it?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#419

Post by throwawa14223 »

bix6 wrote: post #152
delichon wrote: post #132

I hear many things on broadcast media that are contrary to my values, and tend to prune those sources from my media diet. When I am obliged by law to support those sources anyway, I get resentful. So I have been wishing for this since Ronald Reagan proposed it. To me the bright line of "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech" is crossed at least in spirit when the state seizes a dollar from a…

So the government should just not say anything? Let’s just get all our news from X, the famously truthful platform!

Yes the government should just not say anything but this is not dependent on X existing or not existing.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#420

Post by tptacek »

joshuahaglund wrote: post #411
tptacek wrote: post #296

This is a giant thread full of people lamenting the demise of public broadcasting so it seems like someone should write the comment that points out that CPB doesn't do PBS programming. They don't develop content. They're a grantmaking organization that manages the distribution of the congressional PBS appropriation. The actual PBS and NPR shows you're familiar with are generally developed and produced privately, and…

> The actual PBS and NPR shows you're familiar with are generally developed and produced privately Off the top of my head, two programs I watch that get CPB funding include: Frontline https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/about-us/our-funders/ NOVA https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/funders/ This is one place some sorta "trickle down" economics worked. CPB contributed to developing the content on PBS. Now PBS either has to c…

I think the cuts are bad and certainly there will be programming losses. It's just not an existential threat to public media in America, which has over the last 20 years become far less dependent on local stations. GBH, which produces Frontline, gets $177MM in revenue from major donors and viewer subscriptions.
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