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The blog of Chicago-based freelance copywriter and author David Johnsen.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Kill PBS?
A Chicago Tribune editorial today called for an end to government funding for PBS. At first blush, this reminds me of the time during the presidential campaign when Bush called for an end to 527 organizations because he saw progressive groups like Moveon.org gaining power (he didn't really mind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, another 527). As conservatives try to FoxNews-ify PBS, an easier alternative is just to cut it loose completely.
The Trib editorial notes that PBS and its government support produced great shows like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Then it says that nowadays with cable television there is no need for PBS. It is true that certain cable channels offer programming similar to PBS' evening shows (the Trib mentions Discovery and The History Channel, among others), but as far as I know, no one has educational programming like PBS. Nickelodeon and Disney offer entertainment for kids, but I don't think they teach anything. This seems to be an error in logic on the part of the Trib's editorial board--their argument would have been better had they used Nova as an example of a program with cable competition.
They also complain that PBS is boring. I hardly ever watch television, but whenever I hear about an interesting show on PBS, I watch it. And I almost always find myself watching another show or two after the one I tuned in to see. I don't know, maybe that makes me boring.
PBS "gets 15 to 20 percent of its budget--$350 million to $400 million a year--from the federal government," according to the editorial. This is a common trick used in political arguments (Amtrak being another recent example). While that number sounds huge to Joe Sixpack (who probably doesn't watch PBS since they don't cover NASCAR or pro wrestling), it is a tiny part of the federal budget. Compare those millions with the trillions required for Bush's proposed social security privatization plan. Killing PBS would reduce government spending about as much as eliminating paper clips would help the average household budget. In essence, every American taxpayer contributes $2-3 a year to fund PBS. I don't think that's such a bad investment, especially considering that many subscribers pay $75-100 per month to "fund" cable television. I think the Bush administration should stop interfering with PBS, and they certainly shouldn't eliminate its funding.
Labels: television
- posted by David Johnsen @ 1:35 PM
Comments:
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I agree with you. You mentioned NOVA. Would a commercial station have produced Frontline, or Cosmos, or the Power of Myth ? I don't believe so. Either to topics are "Controvercial" (religion and mythology), politically charged (many Frontline episodes) or deemed too boring (Cosmos). Many of these were made to run as a brief series. Frontline doesn't have a steady schedule. I don't believe any of these shows would hold up in a commercial environment.
# posted by 
: 5/09/2005 2:14 PM
: 5/09/2005 2:14 PM
Oh yeah, Frontline! They did a show called "Is Wal-Mart Good For America?" that was far more critical than anything else I've seen out of the mainstream media. Most MSM coverage of Wal-Mart kisses the corporation's butt and portrays their opponents as nuts. Frontline even went beyond the usual "killing downtowns and encouraging sprawl" storyline to talk about how Wal-Mart puts price pressure on suppliers that practically forces them to move their manufacturing facilities out of the U.S.
The issue is one of principle - should govt money be used to fund TV journalism (e.g. Frontline or NOW). Especially, since they typically have a Liberal or anti business bias. How would Liberals feel if PBS ran mostly conservative or religious programs.
# posted by : 6/24/2005 2:39 AM
: 6/24/2005 2:39 AM
Bullsh*t. First of all, this isn't just about funding journalism. I suppose Sesame Street has "liberal or anti business bias?" Second, even Frontline's Wal-Mart exposé wasn't really "anti-business" so much as perhaps "anti-one-particular-business" or "anti-one-way-of-doing-business."
Look at the Center for Public Broadcasting's public opinion surveys from 2003 (page 11 of the document, which is page 13 in the PDF):
"Both surveys confirm the same thing: The majority of the U.S. adult population does not believe that the news and information programming on public broadcasting is biased. The plurality of Americans indicate that there is no apparent bias one way or the other, while approximately one-in-five detect a liberal bias and approximately one-in-ten detect a conservative bias."
Even among Republicans, only 35% thought PBS was liberally biased, and many Republicans think that all media has a liberal bias.
It's clear that most Americans disagree with your assessment.
And forget about religious programming. That gets into the separation of church and state, an entirely different issue. Besides, you are making the false assumption that "liberal" means "anti-religion." My liberal mother has attended church weekly since she was a little girl.
Look at the Center for Public Broadcasting's public opinion surveys from 2003 (page 11 of the document, which is page 13 in the PDF):
"Both surveys confirm the same thing: The majority of the U.S. adult population does not believe that the news and information programming on public broadcasting is biased. The plurality of Americans indicate that there is no apparent bias one way or the other, while approximately one-in-five detect a liberal bias and approximately one-in-ten detect a conservative bias."
Even among Republicans, only 35% thought PBS was liberally biased, and many Republicans think that all media has a liberal bias.
It's clear that most Americans disagree with your assessment.
And forget about religious programming. That gets into the separation of church and state, an entirely different issue. Besides, you are making the false assumption that "liberal" means "anti-religion." My liberal mother has attended church weekly since she was a little girl.
Here is the correct link for the CPB's 2003 public opinion surveys quoted above:
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/reports/objectivity/03objbalance.pdf
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http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/reports/objectivity/03objbalance.pdf
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