If the Corp for public broadcasting is defunded...

[mnradiofan]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

Will you give if Mitt defunds it? ;D

You're stupid.

Those who earn a taxable income contribute every April 15.

G

We all "contribute" to things we don't like. Personally, I don't liike "contributing" to killing innocent people in wars, yet a portion of my taxes goes to developing weapons to do just that. I also don't like "contributing" to large corporations' bottom line, yet I do that with corporate tax breaks every year.

Education, let it be from public television or radio, or through funding of schools and colleges, is never a bad thing, and really should be treated as a matter of national security. A more educated population means that more of the money stays here, so we can keep paying for wars or national defense. The dumber a population, the lower they get paid, the less money we have to keep ourselves safe. I can't believe something so common-sense like hasn't been brought up before.

Now, how we spend that money in education is another thing, and that system is definitely broken, but it doesn't mean we should defund it all together. But that is too off topic for the OP.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Since the private market's idea of "learning" is Honey Boo Boo, we need PBS now more than ever.

If you truly believe that PBS is "needed more now that ever" let it compete in the free market. If the public likes the shows, it will survive, and if they don't, they won't. I get tired on contributing to people on food vouchers that buy steak for their dogs instead of dogfood, but I sure can't do anything about it. I get tired of parents insisting that their kids get identified as Special Ed so they get SSI every month, but no one says anything about that and only complains about big business and useless wars. Guess they would rather be living under the Taliban. PBS has some good productions, but most of it is so bias it isn't worth watching. I don't give because they seem to have such a liberal slant. Just look at Moyers for instance.

For PBS and NPR stations in large markets, they already do, and they already do so quite well. The money that is given to these stations by the CPB helps to pay to keep the lights on, and doesn't even really do that very much. But, there are smaller markets where this isn't the case, and the stations would cease to exist without funding from the CPB. And there are many people who use these services that can't afford to give. Should they be denied access to education because they can't afford it?

I find it very funny that the hardcore conservatives in this country want to cut both education and welfare. How do you expect people to get off welfare if they can't get educated?

As to your arguments about a liberal lean in PBS programming, I completely agree with you. PBS needs to be taken to task for not representing the other half of the country very well, but that shouldn't be a reason to cut funding. PBS should exist as a place for INFORMATIVE news with as little bias as is possible. Why? Because it's not profitable, and therefore will NOT be done by the private media, yet we need someplace to turn to for straight up news and education that isn't funded by a party interested in the message.

But NPR, especially my local affiliate (Minnesota Public Radio) fits the bill perfectly. They do a pretty good job educating me about both sides of an issue, and then I decide how I feel about it. If PBS was run more like that, I'd be on board with supporting them as I choose to support MPR.

I wouldn't attend a school history course brought to you by the KKK just like I wouldn't trust a show about how to efficiently use gasoline that is sponsored by a gas company.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The power company, the phone company, the gas company used to have a local office where you could walk in a pay your bill, and sit down face to face and talk about changes to you home phone system. Today you have no idea where the nearest office for any of these utilities is.

We don't have gas, and I can go to my local phone company, but sitting is not an option as all the desks with chairs for us customers have been replaced with high desks where only the people taking our money sit.

The cable company is the same way. Most of you have heard of Time Warner. I only becamne a subscriber when DTV happened.

As for the power company, I pay my bill at an office that accepts money for other purposes and isn't actually the power company. I know where their headquarters is ...

 

[recto101]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

http://news.yahoo.com/britains-bbc-apologizes-over-sex-abuse-scandal-130614436.html

What about this.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

http://news.yahoo.com/britains-bbc-apologizes-over-sex-abuse-scandal-130614436.html

What about this.

And this has what to do with the topic at hand? We are discussing PBS and NPR which are based in and serving the U.S. You give us a link about some miscreant in England?

I have given to local NPR stations. I don't do it with the fervor of a fanatic but I do give.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

If you truly believe that PBS is "needed more now that ever" let it compete in the free market. If the public likes the shows, it will survive, and if they don't, they won't.

Since such a tiny flea-spec of Federal money goes into NPR and PBS, I think we can say that because they have now functioned for 40 years or so, they are competing in the free market. They are surviving. That fact that the quality of their broadcasts seem to exceed the quality of such a large portion of the commercial broadcasting industry would indicate that PBS and NPR are better at making the free market work than much of the commercial broadcast industry.

I get tired on contributing to people on food vouchers that buy steak for their dogs instead of dogfood, but I sure can't do anything about it. I get tired of parents insisting that their kids get identified as Special Ed so they get SSI every month, but no one says anything about that and only complains about big business and useless wars.

You need to get with a pastor in a church in your community that is involved with working with the poor. Become a mentor to some of these families and individuals. I assume all these people who buy steak for their dogs are the same people that are guilty of all this voter fraud that is in the political news these days. Work with some of these hungry people for a while and let's see if you can come out of the experience still gung-ho about all the folk-lore and fairy-tales that Conservatives tell us about society.

Guess they would rather be living under the Taliban. PBS has some good productions, but most of it is so bias it isn't worth watching. I don't give because they seem to have such a liberal slant. Just look at Moyers for instance.

I think you picked the wrong dude to be the "poster child" for your rant. Moyers is Liberal. But I defy you to come up with a significant list of broadcasters who are more evenhanded in their presentation of the issues. If you watch his show he may present to truths that upset you. Truth is not always a pleasant medicine.

 

[Poledo]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

My mom is the bookkeeper of my business and can sign checks, obviously... she's my mom after all. My business (by way of my mom) is one of the major sponsors of our local NPR station. I initially gave her grief and expressed my anger at her spending so much money (well over half of my advertising budget), but those little "This hour is being brought to you by the fine folks at... (fade to a commercial like statement about my company)" inserts over the past 20 years have actually paid off. It turns out the NPR audience is exactly they type of customer I want, people that can afford to pay their bills and they are very loyal to the "sponsors" of the station.

Due to politics I did insist that they not mention my name on air or online in the sponsorship information. My family is not only Republican, they are very active and dictate national Republican Party policy (in other words, Mitt's listening to my kin, they tell Mitt what he has to do... they have his personal cell phone number on speed dial). I would blindly go along with whatever my families' patriarch believes is right for the country when it comes to politics and funding NPR and/or PBS.... but even if something happens to my mom, at this point the local NPR would continue to get their annual check from my business as long as it's feasible.

(on a side note, the black community is also very loyal to the advertisers on the local commercial urban AC station, and they not only pay their bills, they pay with cash!)

On the other hand, I have never donated anything as an individual.... but virtually all of my business' advertising budget goes to non-profits (high school year books, church programs, NPR, etc...)

 

[OldNumber7]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

Romney's point was -- IS IT WORTH BORROWING MONEY FROM CHINA to fund PBS (or any federal program)? If you can't honestly answer yes, then the funding should be shelved until we can put the budget in balance. Is it worth borrowing from China to fund PBS? I say no.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

Romney's point was -- IS IT WORTH BORROWING MONEY FROM CHINA to fund PBS (or any federal program)? If you can't honestly answer yes, then the funding should be shelved until we can put the budget in balance. Is it worth borrowing from China to fund PBS? I say no.

It's not PBS and NPR that we borrow money for. For a number of years we have funded them quite comfortably. We have had years where we had surpluses. Funding them did not put us in debt.

So what has changed in our country that we can't just snap our fingers, get some senators and congressmen in a room and say: "We're gonna work this out this afternoon, we're going to pass a budget, and we're going to go home and spend time with our families and our constituents!" (We actually used to do that in this country.)

We got so focused on the bottom line of corporations that we let them move jobs overseas so we don't have enough working stiffs making enough money to pay enough taxes to pay for our schools and our roads and our national parks and our public broadcasting.

We got so focused on thinking it was our job to tell the whole world how to live their lives that we kicked up two unfunded wars. We are borrowing money from China to send our military into two countries that didn't want us there and we found out as my Mother used to say: "We weren't big enough in the britches" to actually accomplish either of those diversions.

That's what we are borrowing money from China for. Not our schools. Not our medical care. Not our Social Security. Not our highways. Not our national parks. Not our public broadcasting.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I'd rather see the few hundred million dollars (or what ever the amount is) that the federal government gives to the CPB and hand it over to organizations that helps our veterans.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I'd rather see the few hundred million dollars (or what ever the amount is) that the federal government gives to the CPB and hand it over to organizations that helps our veterans.

Some of us would make the argument that PBS is part of what you are asking for. If the spouse of a wounded veteran needs to spend a bit more time helping with the healing and needs of daily life, and Big Bird and Sesame Street help keep the children occupied while mom and day look after the healing process or the job hunting process, then CPB is one of the organizations helping our vetrans.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Re: Has anyone here given to an PBS or NPR station?

Will you give if Mitt defunds it? ;D

You're stupid.

Those who earn a taxable income contribute every April 15.

G

We all "contribute" to things we don't like. Personally, I don't liike "contributing" to killing innocent people in wars, yet a portion of my taxes goes to developing weapons to do just that. I also don't like "contributing" to large corporations' bottom line, yet I do that with corporate tax breaks every year.

Education, let it be from public television or radio, or through funding of schools and colleges, is never a bad thing, and really should be treated as a matter of national security. A more educated population means that more of the money stays here, so we can keep paying for wars or national defense. The dumber a population, the lower they get paid, the less money we have to keep ourselves safe. I can't believe something so common-sense like hasn't been brought up before.

Now, how we spend that money in education is another thing, and that system is definitely broken, but it doesn't mean we should defund it all together. But that is too off topic for the OP.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Since the private market's idea of "learning" is Honey Boo Boo, we need PBS now more than ever.

The conservative argument against public media always seems to boil down to 'we don't like it, and we don't use it'. But vastly more people do like it--and it has been an undeniable success in information, education, and even entertainment. In other words, we prioritize having media that isn't about selling soap.

The federal support that public media gets didn't hurt the country in good financial times, and it hasn't hurt it in strained times. 'We don't like it, we don't need it' is not a justification. It's a cheap complaint.

 

[recto101]

If the Corp for public broadcasting is defunded

Then Some PBS and NPR affiliates cannot do investigative reporting at all. I know for KQED9 and KQED 88.5 they tend have specials thats dedicated to Investigative Reporting for California Only. I do know KQED does air about the environmental Decay of the Solano, Sacramento, San Joaquin Delta areas and they show how people in the San Joaquin Valley and Socal Demand more water from my Backyard but the People in the Delta and Sacramento Say Lets save the Species here

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Can't they get more $ from Big Oil? ;D

 

[Poledo]

Please... the "Big Bird" argument? Can you seriously tell me that one of the big 4 (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) wouldn't buy Sesame Street and continue producing it and airing it on free OTA TV? Perfect E/I show.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Please... the "Big Bird" argument? Can you seriously tell me that one of the big 4 (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) wouldn't buy Sesame Street and continue producing it and airing it on free OTA TV? Perfect E/I show.

Sesame Street has too big of a budget compared to most E/I shows on commercial TV

 

[recto101]

Can't they get more $ from Big Oil? ;D

I know Big Oil Does fund Nova incidentally ;D

 

[RadioFanBoy]

Please... the "Big Bird" argument? Can you seriously tell me that one of the big 4 (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) wouldn't buy Sesame Street and continue producing it and airing it on free OTA TV? Perfect E/I show

Only if Sesame Street moves to Canada, because that's where most of the networks E/I content comes from these days. :

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Please... the "Big Bird" argument? Can you seriously tell me that one of the big 4 (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) wouldn't buy Sesame Street and continue producing it and airing it on free OTA TV? Perfect E/I show

Only if Sesame Street moves to Canada, because that's where most of the networks E/I content comes from these days. :

and is sponsored by the letter Zed

 

[desertv]

Most government -run broadcasters in the world take advertising, CBC in Canada, RTE in Ireland, the French and German state broadcasters, Channel 4 in the UK (It is a government controlled broadcaster)

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Can you seriously tell me that one of the big 4 (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) wouldn't buy Sesame Street and continue producing it and airing it on free OTA TV?

Yes. If any of the media conglomerates were to buy Sesame Street, it would be Disney (for Disney Channel or Disney Jr.), Viacom (for Nick) or possibly Turner (for Boomerang or Cartoon Network).

The content is perfect for an E/I show, but none of the OTA networks would show it as E/I because E/I programs attract no sponsor dollars due to the FCC's E/I sponsorship rules.