Only if the state feels it should finance public media. There is a segment of the population that feels that government should not be in the media business, whether local, state or national.
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Senate Bill to Defund NPR
- Thread starter TheBigA
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Most of the states that own public media are red states. They're the ones that would hurt the most from the loss of federal funding. All of the conservative federal budget cuts would hurt red states disproportionate to the blue states.
As for government not being in the media business, I'm all for shutting down VOA. Their budget is larger than CPB. I'm also for shutting down the FCC. Let the media police themselves.
The principal function of the FCC in broadcast radio and TV is to normalize the technical aspects of spectrum and specific frequency allocations. Few stations are qualified to do this on their own and deregulating would create chaos.
In the early days of broadcast radio there was a lot of chaos as stations were very lightly regulated. The then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover warned the industry if it didn’t police themselves, the government would step in.
The chaos continued.
Thus we got the Federal Radio Commission, and later the FCC.
That's OK. There's no requirement for such an agency. The current administration is looking to cut expenses, and the FCC would be a place to start.
If the government shouldn't be in the media business, it should shut down the FCC. Problem solved.
Distributing money to states isn't being in the media business. It's being in the government business.
Correct. Vaeth is the acting director of OMB. He wrote the memo. Donald Trump called for the temporary hold. He was elected.Matthew Vaeth: The acting head of the OMB. He's not even the actual director.
Judge blocks Trump federal funding freeze on all public loans, grants and more aid
The spending freeze on federal assistance could affect everything from aid to nonprofits, universities, small business loans and state and local government grants.www.cbsnews.com
He was elected president. The congress has control over spending. The congress is currently working on its spending plan, which is due in March. They can implement any guidelines at that time. The people are represented by congress. That's how the three branches were set up.
Ok. Well I will vote against any public money going to those stations in my state. You can make determinations about your state. If enough people love PBS it will live forever with contributions. If the bulk of the taxpayers don't want the burden it will disappear. Let's start writing to our representatives to get this important waste of money on their agendas
You don't vote on how your money is spent. Your representatives decide for you.
As I've said, if it was up to me, I'd shut down the FCC. There are a few other agencies I personally don't like. Nobody asks me.
This country isn't a reality TV show where we get to vote on everything.
We could easily cover the cost of all of public broadcasting and probably save the tax dollars by eliminating one small (but wasteful) thing from the budget. Will you write to your representatives to demand it?
It's the cost of the current and former President's golf habit. In his first term, the government spent hundreds of millions of dollars on these trips, much of which went right back into his pocket as he played most often at his own properties. The cost of travel, Secret Service protection, etc. etc. etc. adds up quickly, and eliminating the cost of this frivolous activity could either free up funds for more important projects, or lower the deficit by quite a lot.
Trump's "shut it all down now" would have devastating consequences for MAGA voters. As for pubcasters, I guess the state networks can sell to religious broadcasters.
Early radio was regulated, but as the need or demand for stations increased, the need for greater regulation was seen.
There is a fairly good and concise description of early radio regulation starting in 1912, the legal impediments to greater regulation and the causes for the creation of the FRC at Federal Radio Commission - Wikipedia
A judge has it on hold. Trump is not a dictator though he wants to be
I go to the post office every day to send mail, rather than waiting for the mail carrier, and I’m nowhere near 100 years old. I’ve also worked for a public broadcasting station (KQED) which at that time was the most listened to public radio station in the US. I doubt they’d ever sell to a religious group, not even the Church of John Coltrane (yes, that’s a real church in SF). My mail delivery is more reliable than UPS. In fact, I’m still waiting on a package sent by UPS that’s been delayed day after day since last week. I just got another UPS delivery that was delayed daily since last week, too.
If a non commercial group such as K-Love can survive and excel in fund raising, why should any taxpayer money go to CPB, NPR or individual public stations in this day and age? Shouldn't they also be able to stand on their own merit and fundraising? If not, perhaps the market is speaking and just like commercial radio they will have to decide whether to continue or not.
Keep in mind these state networks are both TV & radio. The biggest ones are parts of the state university system. Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, going back almost 100 years. The universities are also very dependent on federal funding. If the new administration wants to cut out all this aid to states, it will cripple the states. The feds could save a trillion dollars, but all the states would go bankrupt and have to double local taxes. Every time I hear someone say "Turn it over to the states," I ask how will they pay for it? Nobody knows. Just pass the buck to someone else.
Let's just say the wrath of God is stronger than the love of knowledge. We have a whole thread here about why other secular formats haven't been able to do what EMF has done. People who donate to religious stations feel it's part of their tithing, where they give 10% of their income to the church. People don't have that kind of devotion to other forms of radio. I have found there are two things that people will pay for without thought or limitation: sex and salvation.
The other thing, comparing EMF to public radio is that public radio does have some interest in the local community. The stations hire local people, and do a lot of local outreach that you don't get from EMF. With the budget cuts at commercial radio, the only local media left in some places are the public stations.
But the fact remains that when ANY type of non-commercial music or talk programming is unsustainable on it's own without pubic funding, why should the taxpayer be responsible to prop it up? Things have completely changed in media since the CPB was originally created.
Keep in mind every dollar in taxpayer money is based on the amount of money that station raises locally. The taxpayers aren't propping it up. The taxpayer money usually goes to things like the interconnection system and other capital expenses, not programming. This same argument was made in the 1980s by Ronald Reagan. They've already fought that battle about taxpayer money. No need to reinvent the wheel. Things HAVE changed since CPB was created. When people learn how these stations are actually funded, they change their tune. The programming IS sustainable without federal funding, but the infrastructure and a lot of the government mandates would not. CPB requires a certain minimum level of staffing and a minimum station budget in order to qualify for federal funding. Not everyone gets that money. NPR stations can't operate like EMF. They are required to have local studios and local production. As I said, with big corporate radio laying off local staff, it's usually only the public station doing local news.
A requirement of NPR itself, not of the government. NPR could drop that requirement in 10 seconds if the member stations screamed loud enough.
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