VOTE: Should Your Tax Money Support PBS?

[kaygore]

It was easy to overlook in Sunday's "Parade Magazine": Should Your Tax Money Support PBS?

In the next few months, Congress will decide whether to continue supporting Big Bird (nice try!/my comment)—or give him the ax. Public broadcasting gets around $400 million annually from the U.S. government, which covers about 15% of local station budgets. (Most shows are funded primarily by producers, viewer donations, private foundations and corporations.) Now the Bush Administration has proposed cutting funding by half.

Those who agree with this decrease say that, with the availability of high-quality cable-TV shows, public TV is unnecessary. Its average nightly audience is 2.1 million—around half of the viewer of pro wrestling. Responds Eric Boehlert, senior fellow at Media Matters, a nonprofit media watchdog group: “PBS is a success story for the government, ranking up there with the national parks. Any cuts would hurt the millions of people who can’t or won’t pay for cable.” Should tax dollars support PBS? Vote at Parade.com.

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_05-04-2008/Intelligence_Report


While not all programs are "balanced", PBS nevertheless includes Bill Moyers, NOW, Wide Angel, Frontline, etc. I believe that it is important to cast a YES-vote.

[jtrockville]

1. So far, the Ayes have it.

Yes 77% (42562 votes), No 23% (13011 votes)

[lligrd]

2. High Quality Cable TV Shows??

Can't seem to find those on my cable channels.

[progressoid]

6. Sure...like pro wrestling

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[BuelahWitch]

25. Hey, don't forget 'Night of Love" with Tia Tequila

and all the other highly educational reality shows...:sarcasm: Let's see Bill Moyers top that!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Back in the 1980s, the Reaganites pointed to the existence of

Discovery (science and social science documentaries) and A&E (mostly British and Australian dramas and documentaries), which both carried a lot of high-quality programs, as an indication that PBS was now unnecessary.

Have you looked at either channel lately? A&E seems to be going for the "mean and dumb" demographic.

[lligrd]

10. I Watch Discovery On Occasion

The History channel too. But the occasions have gotten fewer as their "quality programming" dwindled. I haven't watched anything on A&E for years. I'm not even sure I still have it. But as I recall it became mainly biographies of people I had no interest in.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. That was part of its transition to "mean and dumb"

It's all true crime and other programming directed at the macho jerk demographic.

[defendandprotect]

50. Evidently, A&E was bought out recently or is under threat of that change?

They've been pretty well destroyed for quite a number of years now --- 3 +++ ???

[anitar1]

22. I watch PBS every night . There are very few shows

on cable that are worth watching. Most are almost 1/2 commercials.

[Occulus]

26. Battlestar Galactica

But you have to have the Sci-Fi channel.

Best fraking show on television (yes, including "Lost", "Heroes", and "24").

[malaise]

27. I nearly choked when I read that

:rofl:

[YvonneCa]

40. Mine either...

...maybe we should have hearings to define what 'high-quality' is. Maybe current programming does match the need for ten-year-old viewers. For the intelligent adult...there is hardly anything.

[Frustratedlady]

3. PBS is about the only truthful channel there is. Good heavens, don't take it all away from us.

What are they afraid of? Bill Moyers?

[YvonneCa]

37. Probably...

...there is fear of Moyers. You are absolutely right.

[Lasher]

4. Wingnuts think PBS leans to the left.

With almost everything leaning to the right they can't tell the difference.

[rebel with a cause]

5. the right of center is left to where the wingnuts are.

In fact they are falling off the right edge of the graph. :evilgrin:

[defendandprotect]

51. Right . . .

I'm kind of reluctant to tell them that they call PBS "Petroleum Broadcasting System" . . .
evidently, they think it's great --- don't want to hurt their feelings!

[bluesmail]

7. not as long as the Board of Directors are republicons.

[Skink]

8. The republicans should be working on that nasty CSPAN

the channel that Obama is going o use to broadcast his healthcare sit downs with the Lobbyists.

[defendandprotect]

15. They have been working on C-span . . . it was destroyed when the

Congress went Republican ... Newt Gingrich's Contract On America also knocked out C-span.

Don't forget, C-span is provided by a network of all the corporate broadcasters . . .

they respond quickly to right-wing takeover of government.

What was once two firm channels --- C-span I and C-span II -- and C-span III on the way at the

time --- ended the new plans and now our C-span II is gone . . .

At times of "war" when C-span is taken over by the military, it's totally shut down with

generals telling us how wonderfully they're doing. Most of all, too little time for C-span I

now to show HEARINGS . . . one of the most important features they used to show.

[defendandprotect]

16. Let me also add that the censors are very busy at PBS with "In the Life" being

shown in wee hours of the morning --- it has been their best program!

I'm not gay --- and I love it!

Bill Moyers is still busy at PBS putting everyone to sleep ---

and Brian Leher is a crock --- !!!

Ask yourselves . . . in all this time, has PBS every actually told you how dangerous and immediate
Global Warming is ???????

Have they ever played "Who Killed The Electric Car?" or even mentioned Electric Cars?

Ever mention nationalizing the oil industry?

Impeachment of the president?

Are they playing SICKO, perhaps???

Folks -- what they're doing is putting you to sleep ---

the music has been great, but don't they have HIGHER responsibilities --- ????

[Iris]

30. Frontline? Wide Angle? Independent Lens?

All worthwhile

[defendandprotect]

44. The question is . . . is PBS what it should be ---?

There's only one answer to that --- NO!

I've commented on "Frontline" before . . . it will usually put you to sleep before it gets you on
your feet to do anything about any situation! If Bill Moyers was at all effective in moving people
off their couches, he wouldn't be on PBS.

I'm not familiar with "Wide Angle" or "Independent Lens" . . .
but there have been endless idiotic shows, especially pushing the idea of British "royals" --
I mean just stop and think what they could be doing!!!

Most of all you should have some realistic "news" from PBS and that certainly isn't happening
either and hasn't been happening for the decades that ExxonMobil has been sponoring PBS.
Again -- Brian Leher is a joke.

Also see my msg #14 about the private Corporation for Public Broadcasting ---



My original message . . .

Edited on Sun May-11-08 01:24 AM by defendandprotect
shown in wee hours of the morning --- it has been their best program!

I'm not gay --- and I love it!

Bill Moyers is still busy at PBS putting everyone to sleep ---

and Brian Leher is a crock --- !!!

Ask yourselves . . . in all this time, has PBS every actually told you how dangerous and immediate
Global Warming is ???????

Have they ever played "Who Killed The Electric Car?" or even mentioned Electric Cars?

Ever mention nationalizing the oil industry?

Impeachment of the president?

Are they playing SICKO, perhaps???

Folks -- what they're doing is putting you to sleep ---

the music has been great, but don't they have HIGHER responsibilities --- ????

[HughMoran]

34. Alternatives?

??

[defendandprotect]

45. Turn off your TV --- that's the best alternative . . . read a book --

[HughMoran]

47. Being informed is part of being a Democrat

Sorry, I can't not know what is going on - and I choose to get it from NPR (so not TV, but radio).

[defendandprotect]

49. Well, consider that "knowing what is going on" ....

doesn't depend upon watching TV nor NPR --- !!!

There are many people monitoring the right-wing and much of the programming on TV --- and DU
reports on it regularly --- so you're pretty well set for finding out anything interesting
that is happening ---

or anything simply outrageous that you need to know.

Like PBS, NPR was torn down and torn apart long ago ---

Also, like much of C-span . . .

[HughMoran]

52. NPR & PBS are as good a source as any

I'm not sure who pissed in your wheaties, but I get information for MANY sources, not just DU or NPR or PBS or whatever. I have many other sources I use. Your narrow minded bitterness is getting on my nerves - I despise people with fucked up attitudes like yours.

[defendandprotect]

53. Laughing . . .

OK . . . attitudes like yours are really what we should all aim for --- !!!

Meanwhile, over the past decade at least ... PBS has been called "Petroleum Broadcasting System" ---

Think that a while . . .

And when you get time think about how often they have told you the truth about Global Warming

and the role that ExxonMobil and the oil industry has played over the past three plus decades

in spreading disinformation and lies about it --- and the billions they spent on propaganda

doing that.

Maybe they've told you the truth about Electric Cars?

[HughMoran]

54. You're lying now

I've never heard such hateful mindless stupidity - kill your friends much to please your enemies?

[defendandprotect]

55. Well, if you haven't heard it . . . maybe you better think about that ---

have you noticed, for instance, any oil industry buying of PBS ---

Have you noticed that there is a right-wing privatized Corporation for Public Broadcasting

in charge of PBS ---

Have you noticed any commercials on PBS ---

and what kind of damage do you think that "beg-a-thons" over the decades have done to PBS

coverage of "news" and information we should know about?

[HughMoran]

56. See ya

I am able to see for myself and I like what I see. I'm never talking to you again as you are perpetrating the kind of crap I'd expect from a right-wing plant - I don't have time for people who are so jaded.

[defendandprotect]

57. Promise . . . !!!

laughing . . .

PLEASE -- put me on ignore cause I thought more of DUers . . .

and I'd hate to have to read anything so inane again ---

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Well, the comments are *interesting* ...

A lot of people defending PBS, and a few (obvious) right-wingers accusing PBS of "liberal bias".

[napi21]

12. Along with the programs you mentioned in your OP, I also

watch America's Test Kitchen, Gardening in Ga., and sometimes several of the other cooking shows that are on on Sat. They are the only channel anywhere with programming with some wonderful shows, and I voted yes in the poll. I think I'll also send an email to my Rep regarding how I want him to vote. He's an AH Pub, but maybe on this, he'll listen for a change.

[Digit]

13. Unfortunately, PBS in NC is one long commercial about NC

Rarely are there shows I find worth watching.
When I lived in another state, I watched PBS quite abit.
In addition, they now have commercials, at least here in NC.

[defendandprotect]

14. It's actually run by a private r-w coporation: The Corp for Public Broadcasting . . .

Yes, we do need publickly sponsored broadcasting, but not the way it's been done by the GOP where
decades ago they began to slam PBS with cuts -- and then put a right-wing private corporation over them!!

Needless to say the cuts led to "beg-a-thons" which hurt PBS with viewers --
and then corps moved in with ExxonMobil being a big contributior/controller of PBS.
Now advertisements are seen regularly and the whole thing has been shot to hell for ages.

Is it worth anything now . . . I don't think so--
In fact, I think it's dangerous to let people think it is worth something ---
It's misleading.

What we need to do is have is a tax on private broadcasting to fund public broadcasting and to make
sure that the r-w doesn't fiddle around with the amounts intended for public broadcasting nor any control or say-so over it!

[alfredo]

17. Repubs don't believe in the concept of the commons.

[LaStrega]

18. Voted ...

'Yes' of course. Not like shrubco give a good goddamn what the American people think.

shrub "Fuck Bigbird, we've got a war to win!"

ARGH!

k&r

[Agony]

19. Folks, WE need to drag Pentagon Broadcasting System along the road

with us and put the Public back. Just because the fascists break shit doesn't mean we can't fix it. They are dying to kill public anything and everything. I hate what PBS has become, I even have FreeSpeechTV and LinkTV as superior alternatives. Still, commonwealth is worth fighting for.

[YvonneCa]

38. Welcome to DU. n/t

[warren pease]

20. Yeah, cut 'em off at the purse...

I'd so much rather that taxes went for glorious and studly things like more stealth bombers, an upgraded nuclear arsenal, the fuel those F-16s consumed today keeping the skies above the Crawford movie set free of paparazzi in helicopters -- that's stuff worth paying for and I don't care if I ever see that flaming lefty radical Bush hater Moyers again in this lifetime.

Oh, and I'm good with paying Pelosi's, Reid's, Cheney's, Bushie's and Condi's salaries, too. Along with the wages paid to those warriors against terra -- the mighty TSA, noble guardians of freedom and serial scissors thieves.

And so many more worthwhile gadgets and programs our fine representatives come up with every day. Screw PBS and the left-leaning mule it rode in on.


wp


And for the irony challenged: :sarcasm:

[ColbertWatcher]

21. Our taxes shouldn't support GOP ideologues.

"In November, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting inspector general found that Tomlinson had made improper hires, had tried to tamper with PBS's TV programming and appeared to show political favoritism in selecting CPB's president while he was chairman, Tomlinson resigned his CPB post that same month."

(...)

"...Tomlinson employed contractors without documentation, including a still-mysterious Indiana man who was paid to monitor the number of conservative and liberal guests who appeared on PBS talk shows.

The most sensational complaint against Tomlinson might be that he used government resources to support his stable of thoroughbred racehorses, potentially violating federal embezzlement laws."

--Washington Post

[Elspeth]

31. Yes, but tax money allows some taxpayer oversight, unlike commercial television

We can file complaints about Tomlinson, but what private companies do is not under public scrutiny.

[ColbertWatcher]

33. Complaints were filed against Tomlinson!

But, apparently the GOP-controlled Congress couldn't be bothered to do any oversight.

Private companies may be safe from public scrutiny, but I believe TV stations are a unique entity and still have some obligation to the public.

[YvonneCa]

39. I agree...

...but this is part of a larger pattern during the Bush Administration: Place GOP operatives into government jobs, whether they are qualified or not, ( such as CPB) to promote Republican political policy objectives. It was done to FEMA (Brownie), to the EPA (Whitman, who didn't know), and Probably the Dept. of Justice (still under investigation).

The Corp. for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS are not the problem...but, like the Justice Dept., they need to be investigated and cleaned up.

[madokie]

24. Yes 77% with 42750 votes, no with 13034 votes.

[DesertRat]

28. Done. YES!

[Iris]

29. Wow! 77% say yes!

Thanks for posting this.

[barbtries]

32. yes, as long as

the right wing media cannot control what is aired

[bunkerbuster1]

35. I totally support PBS. But not all PBS stations are that great

like, say, the shite that passes for programming on the Atlanta station. Feh.

(dovetails nicely with the crappy NPR affiliate we have, but I digress.)

[YvonneCa]

36. Absolutely..

...taxes should support PBS. Public Broadcasting System has been on of the very few to report real news, and employ real journalists. We need MORE networks like PBS, not less. Democracy can't survive without access to real information.

[Mudoria]

41. Yes!!!

Not a day goes by that I don't watch PBS on the UNC television system. I can't imagine not having PBS to watch.

[mitchum]

42. NO...and not as long as long as the Corporation For Public Broadcasting continues to lead the...

fight against low power transmission. As they have for 30 years now.
Fuck them and their milquetoast "reasonableness"

[Nutmegger]

43. Not many can afford cable

And the crap on cable doesn't even come close to the quality of programming on PBS.

[NuttyFluffers]

46. sweet jesus, yes! it's the best stuff on TV outside of CSPAN.

i'd never bother with my TV beyond video games and home movies if there was no more PBS and CSPAN. shit i can see anywhere, quality entertainment is rare!

(though i must say the ethnic networks are a blast as well. i love those foreign dramas.)

[pleah]

48. Yes. It is still at 77% yes.