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Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

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Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#581

Post by Tryk »

kulahan wrote: post #336
atonse wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have said, the big guys (WGBH in Boston, WETA in DC, etc) will have minimal impact since they have a large pool of donors. But the little guys will suffer more. Ultimately, I think we can all agree that we hope the impact won't be catastrophic as far as the number of listeners impacted.

My guess is that things will largely continue as they have been, but we'll get a lot fewer of those cute little stories about a random one-off issue in a town of 300 people or whatever. Probably not the biggest loss if I'm right, but still a major bummer, and yet another connection between the rural and the urban is severed.

I think people are interested in local news, so the gap will certainly be replaced but by monied interests, e.g. Sinclair [1] or similar. Who will promote their narrative and further polarize the information landscape.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#582

Post by nobody9999 »

munchler wrote: post #205
bix6 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we should just support the post office with donations while we’re at it. That’ll work well!

I suspect the post office is still supported by a durable majority. If it isn’t, then it will probably lose government funding as well.

>I suspect the post office is still supported by a durable majority. If it isn’t, then it will probably lose government funding as well.

To which funding are you referring?

In fact[0]:

"Unlike many government agencies, the United States Postal Service (USPS) does not receive direct taxpayer funding for operating expenses. Government appropriations are limited to specific purposes, such as the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program."

And[1]:

"In 2006, Congress passed a law that imposed extraordinary costs on the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation."

[0] https://govfacts.org/federal/usps/how-usps-stays-afloat-fund...

[1] https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis...

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#583

Post by Tryk »

dizlexic wrote: post #512
esseph wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public radio and local broadcasting has been gobbled up by right-wing sources, including Sinclair Watch this clip: https://youtu.be/xwA4k0E51Oo?feature=shared

As a long time listener of AM radio. Literally nothing has changed from a programming perspective. The only noticeable difference is who supplies the on the hour news.

Well a counter argument would be, how would you know if anything is changed? If you're not part of the editors for a newsrooms how would you know which stories are cut and which make the broadcast?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#584

Post by munchler »

pfortuny wrote: post #339
munchler wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until this change, public broadcasting got 85% of its funding from donations, so whatever the term used to mean, that's what it means now.

Honest question: apart from the name ("Public BC"), what makes it "public" in the US if most of its income is private?

It gets direct donations from the public.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#585

Post by toomanyrichies »

WalterBright wrote: post #563
toomanyrichies wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Musk gave out free Starlinks during Hurricane Helene." Did he? > As it turns out, the offer wasn’t as generous as it seemed, it’s really more of a new customer promotion. > The Register pointed out that if anyone goes to sign up for the “free” service, there’re hit with a harsh reality: you have to pay for the equipment. > But try to sign up for the ostensibly “free” service in an area Starlink has designated as a H…

> if you want those fees waived, you’ll have to file a waiver and then wait for it to be approved. Oh, the horror! Do you know that to get government services, you also have to file a form and wait for it to be approved?

Nice cherry-picking. Your post framed it like Musk was Father Christmas, handing out gifts to needy kids. It’s more like Columbia House [1] for internet access, and targeting hurricane victims to boot.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_House

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#586

Post by pfortuny »

munchler wrote: post #584
pfortuny wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: apart from the name ("Public BC"), what makes it "public" in the US if most of its income is private?

It gets direct donations from the public.

But then what is the difference between that and any NGO?

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#587

Post by tutorialmanager »

MathMonkeyMan wrote: post #251
leviathant wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's Fox, but for the Left There was a distinct shift to the right at NPR when Obama took office, and by the time he took his second term, NPR News' social media was posting clickbait trash instead of real headlines. "The liberal media" is an irrational boogeyman used to whip ownership in line. Everyone who complains about "bias in the media" is arguing in bad faith while they continue to turn a blind eye to the ov…

smithkl42 says that NPR is leftward, and you say that it's rightward. Maybe we're all operating from different baselines.

All of NPR's 87 editorial board members are registered Democrats. That should give some indication of where they are on left versus right.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#588

Post by user3939382 »

mulmen wrote: post #269
user3939382 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Why is that a problem?

Because it’s morally reprehensible and I don’t want my tax dollars used for that purpose that’s why. Clearly you do but fortunately we live in a democracy where you’re outnumbered.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#589

Post by atonse »

xelxebar wrote: post #509
atonse wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 mor…

> how can we build a product that saves local affiliate stations money Let's bring back those supposed good 'ol days! What are some valid business models that could successfully fund local affiliates? Knowing nothing of the industry, some initial questions come to mind: - Is there value in cross-affiliate connections and referrals where a broadcasting association could work? - Direct donations seems like a filled mar…

Thanks for humoring me :-)

- Are there potential alternatives for some of the alerting products provided by the rural areas, that is lost in this process?

- Can we also use some of the same tech that's used by influencers, etc to reduce the costs for local affiliates? Like could the shows be produced at home, with cheaper gear, reducing their in-studio costs?

- Program scheduling can be done in the cloud, and maybe the content can be posted on YouTube for more monetization options, however small?

- It could overall lower the costs involved in running a station.

Re: Corporation for Public Broadcasting ceasing operations

#590

Post by spencerflem »

throwaway6612 wrote: post #575
spencerflem wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The Left” does not mean to the left of you personally. It’s like how there’s only two types of drivers, insane speeders and insane slowpokes and that’s true no matter how fast you drive :p The “left” in terms of voters is against the genocide in Gaza and for socialist policies and candidates like Mamdani. Plenty of polls and evidence supports this. NYT undid their endorsement policy to specifically Not endorse mamda…

The NYT is not right. WaPo is perhaps a touch more right than the NYT but both are left-leaning and liberal. NPR is centrist but its editorials lean liberal. You’ve cherry-picked a few stories where the NYT leaned more right, but on the whole the NYT, WaPo, and NPR certainly lean liberal or left of the general American public. The point of labels like right,left, liberal, conservative, etc. are relative valuations to…

Picking more: they pushed HARD the Claudine Gay story, putting it on the front page ten consecutive days. That story was a manufactured right wing operation to oust her. They also are still very anti-trans.

I am operating on: if they are to the right of mainstream democratic voters, those that won Mamdani the primary and overwhelmingly support Palestine, then they do not get to claim to be left wing.

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