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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

cpb.org

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#471

Post by timuckun »

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…

Maybe you weren't watching them on the TV but your grandma was most likely was.

The more important thing is that this is just another tiny step in the death spiral of the United States. Sad to watch.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#472

Post by vjvjvjvjghv »

tptacek wrote: post #420
joshuahaglund wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think I am starting to get paranoid but I wouldn’t be too surprised if they went after these donors next.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#473

Post by f33d5173 »

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.

NPR in particular has been an insane parody of leftism for at least a decade at this point. The fact that it took this long to lose funding is a testament to how strong it was as an institution.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#474

Post by rgblambda »

tetris11 wrote: post #74
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 has unparalleled quality TV programming for both kids and adults, but their news channel has been compromised by conservative influence (namely the director Tim Davie) for a while now. Channel 4 news is surprisingly now the better news source for actual events.

Channel 4 unfortunately doesn't have the breadth of news coverage (though they definitely have the depth) that the BBC has. They don't have anything like the local/regional news coverage and have to be very selective about what they report on. They're also 1 medium only (TV) whereas the BBC are TV, radio, and what is effectively the UK's biggest online newspaper.

They're also living on borrowed time. Channel 4 is publicly owned but completely self funded, largely through ad revenue. Ad revenue for TV is not what it used to be.

There's been serious consideration given to the idea of merging Channel 4 into the BBC to share admin costs but keep it editorially separate.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#475

Post by HWR_14 »

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…

CPB doesn't create programming. But they do write grants to the stations that purchase the programming. Isn't that just funding the creation of the programming with several steps in between?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#477

Post by rangerelf »

tptacek wrote: post #420
joshuahaglund wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I don't know if I'm the only one that finds fault with:

> GBH, which produces Frontline, gets $177MM in revenue from major donors and viewer subscriptions.

Given Frontline is a production for public consumption, for public good, it shouldn't have to be financed by donations, it absolutely should be financed by the federal government.

I find your tone (sorry) offensive, in the sense that you DON'T find it dramatic and just plain terrible that CPB had to cease operations, just because billionaires feel it's a waste of "money that could be in their pocket" and obviously they prefer the greater population to be clueless and ignorant.

Me? I am furious. But what can I do besides the usual? Write my congresscritters, call them, write angry posts on Hackernews, donate?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#478

Post by atonse »

tptacek wrote: post #469
cyanydeez wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I think you underestimate the structural dependency. Xkcd comic is closer to reality. There is a base load to public good and we are about to find out

We'll find out, but I think always the bias on HN is towards whichever interpretation of an event is most dramatic.

It's unfortunate, but as someone who's been on HN since probably 2010, I remember the ethos of this site to news like this used to be a lot more "let's find an opportunity" – maybe I'm looking with rose colored glasses.

People would say "should we setup a donation site" or "how can we build a product that saves local affiliate stations money" etc etc etc. Maybe that's still happening quietly. But I just see a lot more doom nowadays in HN comments. (Just a feeling, obviously no data whatsoever to back it up)

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#479

Post by spencerflem »

onepremise wrote: post #82

Again, it's all part of the plan, which is referred to as the butterfly revolution, by Curtis Yarvin. Leaders that have literally invested in this platform are buying into this nonsense. These guys have polarized the two parties to a point all weaknesses are surfacing. It isn't about democrats vs republicans. It's just working class vs the billionaires. You know the ppl sitting behind Trump at his inauguration. Liter…

I appreciate your response and agree with it, but don’t quite get the emphasis on polarization. They don’t want two polarized media sources, they want one completely controlled propaganda source. And I don’t see how it’s playing into their hands or something being “polarized” against billionaires and trump supporters.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#480

Post by McAlpine5892 »

technothrasher wrote: post #371
McAlpine5892 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I had the privilege of meeting both Sagan and Randi

If the story is even remotely interesting and something you'd be willing to share I would really appreciate the read.

Will definitely look into those books. Thanks for the recs.

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