Cuts to Public Broadcasting funding

[Beebo Brink]

Senate Votes To Cut Federal Funding To Public Broadcasting

The Senate passed Donald Trump‘s set of spending cuts to rescind $1.1 billion from public media, despite warnings that the funding rollbacks will devastate the PBS, NPR and public station ecosystem.

I've been following these stories with interest (and dread), but also some mixed feelings specifically about PBS. Although the news of funding treats this as a single issue, the roles of PBS and NPR -- especially at a local level -- are quite different. NPR stations really do support the local news and provide a necessary service to their community; PBS, on the other hand, not so much.

The vast majority of PBS programming (at least in my area) is British-centric. There are a smattering of shows from Western Europe (Professor T, Luna + Sophie, Seaside Hotel), but overall, the offerings from comedy to drama to reality shows are imported from Great Britain. Meanwhile, there is virtually no representation from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America. Finding Your Roots -- which is probably the most quintessentially American show on offer -- is an anomaly. And then there is Nova, which is absolutely splendid, but like Roots, a blip on the menu.

Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to justify the federal funding of PBS given their priorities. Either they are a show about the American people, which means a focus on this country, or they are a lens to our origins, in which case they should present a wide selection of programming from across the world. And if they can't afford more than a few programs like Roots and Nova, and their only option is to re-package British shows, are they really a viable venture?

Personally, I'd hate to lose PBS (I'm a long-time supporter), especially to the GOP's war on "left-leaning" culture. I would, however, like some serious reflections on what PBS is doing and why, because more and more I find myself questioning what purpose they serve that can't be answered by a subscription to BritBox.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

It's not Masterpiece Theatre that TrumpCo are after. It is decidedly NPR. They have already dragged CBS and ABC down. Fox remains to be seen based upon the WSJ article. NBC remains, as of yet?

Fascism has to take down news organizations that counter their narrative. THIS is the nature of their attack.

Yes, it does seem British-centric. I've always figured that was because they shared shows, well prior to streaming, at which point we now have BritBox and Acorn as well. PBS doesn't seem to be getting as many of those shows and I think I saw that Grantchester and Moonflower Mysteries will be cancelled.

You are correct in that we do not see fair representation of the world at large. I think that is a matter of funding more than anything. I think PBS has distribution agreements with the BBC which has not been yet gutted and going way back. Think, Doctor Who for decades as an example. No worries, the contemporaries of Trump in Great Britain would seem to love to do the same.

Some of it may well be just how well those shows have done, Downton Abbey, et al...

At the end of the day, we are seeing PBS gutted and the BBC will not be far behind. Britbox and Acorn are both relatively new formats for the BBC/ITV. I subscribed to Britbox to watch the original Doctor Who 26 seasons. Previously it had been on Amazon, and before that PBS. Briefly after that it was on HBO and now Disney has it, with them now complaining that they lost money and is up in the air for the future. Every other day the show moves somewhere else, lol. It won't be just Doctor Who, it will be any/all BBC properties. That is a sign of the changing realities with streaming. Here today, gone tomorrow.

https://www.theringer.com/2022/10/17/tv/british-tv-shows-in-america-history-bbc-cross-the-pond

Why are there so many British shows on PBS? – ProfoundAdvice

profoundadvices.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Some of it may well be just how well those shows have done, Downton Abbey, et al...

Those programs do really well with a specific class of Americans, who also happen to be the people of British descent who disproportionately possess the highest incomes in this country. PBS does a piss-poor job of representing the melting pot that is modern America, and while catering to Anglophiles may make the most economic sense, it undercuts their argument that they deserve federal funding.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Isn't PBS the tv network with this little annoying pink dinosaur, who always pressed kids into asking their parents to pay for him? Well... if so, I am sure some would just love to see it gone.

 

[Free]

Isn't PBS the tv network with this little annoying pink dinosaur, who always pressed kids into asking their parents to pay for him? Well... if so, I am sure some would just love to see it gone.

If you mean Barney, he was a purple dinosaur. Barney was insipid and totally overhyped during his time on air, which no doubt led to a lot of rumors about the person playing him and the show's staff being spread, but I've never heard of him asking for money from his viewers' parents. Unless he appeared on one or more of PBS' pledge drives. Or the kids got hooked on his merchandising.

 

[Soen Eber]

Fortunately there's a lot of English-language international news stations that public radio affiliates can rebroadcast; BBC, Radio DW, France24, NHK, Al Jazeera ... so we're just going to have to suffer with news programming the both right wing media and American cultural influences cannot touch or influence. This may be a good thing - the news cycle in the U.S. is addicted to drama. Everything else can be filled out with old time radio shows if absolutely necessary.

Hopefully with Trump starting to lose his grip, the cash NPR has for this years budget will hold out until the R's start climbing down from MAGAhood. Not that I'm expecting it, but a lot of R's kinda-wanta hang around and their popularity hinges on Trumps. Once it tanks -- adios, amigo.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Katheryne Helendale (@kat_helendale) on Threads

I've got an idea: On the heels of Congress passing a bill to defund NPR and PBS, and CBS canceling Colbert, how about we all cancel our Paramount+ subscriptions and donate the funds to NPR and PBS instead?

www.threads.com