Why People Care About Public Radio's Future But Not Public TV

[MattParker]

This topic could either go here or under National TV. I put it here because the focus is more specific to public non-commercial broadcasting.

The current ''New Republic'' asks the provocative question Why Are Yuppie Elites Obessed With NPR's Budget

Forget Me Elmo
Yuppie elites are too worried about NPR—and not worried enough about PBS.

...(Federal funding) cuts would hurt NPR. But what’s even more disturbing is that, in the midst of a culture war over yuppie, liberal-leaning NPR, people seem to have forgotten just how much damage would be done to vastly more egalitarian PBS. ...

The article says NPR gets two per cent of its budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; PBS gets 16 per cent. But you don't hear much expressed concern about PBS' survival or people rallying to save it. The writer contends the typical public radio listener is a well-off, middle-aged White guy but public TV's audience is more diverse and reflects the broader demographic make-up of the US (lower income and lower socio-economic status). But all the spoiled elite cares about is its precious This American Life, Car Talk and Lake Wobegon.

It is curious that in this debate it has become all about public radio (except for brief mentions of the fact that PBS was also targeted in the same "sting" by activists presenting themselves as an Arab advocacy group and didn't bite). Why is it public TV is sort of just there but public radio is something about which many people care passionately? Because radio is personal? Or maybe because public radio is unique; nobody else does what they do but dozens of cable channels now offer pretty much the same kind of programming which was once unique to public television?

 

[MattParker]

Interesting take on this from NPR contributor Mark Oppenheimer on Slate:

Save NPR!
But please, put PBS out of its misery.

...Whatever its leadership's failings, NPR itself is not troubled or failing. To the contrary, NPR is the most resounding media success story of the past 40 years. ... (NPR) has thrived on FM radio during the era in which FM radio has lost audience, not to mention cachet. ...

...It is instructive to compare NPR's history with that of its hideous, ugly televised brother, PBS. .... Today, it can be difficult to find what ambitious, interesting programming there is on PBS. ... it seemed that an average evening on PBS had all the intelligence of VH1 and all the youth appeal of CBS.

READ FULL ARTICLE]Save NPR!
But please, put PBS out of its misery.

Oppenheimer goes on to document the dumbing down and the trashing down of PBS in an apparent effort to avoid political fall-out and get pledges from Baby Boomers. Meanwhile, cable has taken over what was PBS' province early on.

 

[TheBigA]

Why is it public TV is sort of just there but public radio is something about which many people care passionately? Because radio is personal?

These are two very different companies. NPR produces most of its content, and PBS doesn't. As a result, there's more of a "family" feel to NPR, at least in terms of the 3 core news shows. Meanwhile, PBS carries shows produced by major stations and outside production companies. PBS really tries to "brand" its shows, but at the end of the day, the individual shows are the brand. NPR is a brand.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

The things I watch from PBS on TV is generally limited to PBS News Hour. Shows like Nova and American Experience I tend to view online at PBS.org. Other than a local newsmagazine my local PBS station airs, which I also watch online, that is all I watch on PBS. If of interest, I'll watch Nature.

NPR, on the other hand, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, Fresh Air, ATC, Car Talk, Prairie Home Companion, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Michael Feldman's quiz show (forget the name), and the local Radio Times are shows I regularly look forward to hearing on my NPR station.

So yes I'd agree that PBS is a waste with Antique Road show, and some of that other stuff that seems to always be on when I dial past PBS. Of course one man's music is another man's noise. PBS may be doing just fine financially and viewer wise and doesn't really need my viewership, but I'd agree they don't seem to be as solid programming wise as in years past. NPR is as strong, for my ear, as ever.

 

[w00t]

PBS is kind of like a public library. There is something for everyone, and we all end up there eventually. Our state network (UNC-TV) does everything it can to make everyone feel welcome.

Those same descriptions cannot at all be applied to NPR. Show brand or network brand, everything is along the exact same lines. I was an avid Car Talk listener for years but just can't be bothered to listen anymore. Even they are pushing a left-ish agenda at times and it really gets old.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Those same descriptions cannot at all be applied to NPR. Show brand or network brand, everything is along the exact same lines. I was an avid Car Talk listener for years but just can't be bothered to listen anymore. Even they are pushing a left-ish agenda at times and it really gets old.

Something about NPR gets under your skin, I gather. I find that the mixture of programs produced for PBS by third party groups on the subjects of religion, wildlife and ecology and history have a slight blue haze that far exceeds any haze found in NPR programs.

To try and "neuter" anything in programming that might be perceived by some people as a political lean would result in content with all the appeal of unsalted Pablum.

I would suggest that if either NPR or PBS really irritates you to the point of avoiding them, your personal "haze detectors" are maybe a bit overly sensitive. But then again, when you read the R-I Forums it becomes obvious a lot of us are prone to develop rashes over some broadcast programs.

 

[w00t]

What I sense from NPR is not always a distinct political lean, that's why I said "left-ish" - it's just on the left by association. I mentioned Car Talk - everyone does not need a tiny tin can of a car, but try to hear them mention anything else when people ask for advice on a new car. It's a hippie/treehugger mentality that is closely associated with the left that has permeated the show.

NPR has this snobbish air about them that they can't (or don't want to) shake. PBS doesn't. Overall, that's my point.

 

[TheBigA]

What I sense from NPR is not always a distinct political lean, that's why I said "left-ish" - it's just on the left by association. I mentioned Car Talk - everyone does not need a tiny tin can of a car, but try to hear them mention anything else when people ask for advice on a new car. It's a hippie/treehugger mentality that is closely associated with the left that has permeated the show.

What do you expect? They're a couple of boomers from Taxachusetts, the land of Volvos. But by the same token, they like well built cars. You don't see many car magazines recommending big gas guzzlers, regardless of political persuasion. When it comes to talking classic cars, Click & Clack love huge heavy chrome-laden American cars. But with gas selling for $4 a gallon, can you blame them for recommending smaller cars? Conservatives talk about fiscal constraint...what's wrong with extending that view to cars?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What I sense from NPR is not always a distinct political lean, that's why I said "left-ish" - it's just on the left by association. I mentioned Car Talk - everyone does not need a tiny tin can of a car, but try to hear them mention anything else when people ask for advice on a new car. It's a hippie/treehugger mentality that is closely associated with the left that has permeated the show.

In every craft and trade, there is usually a tool or tools that are used to calibrate. Whether you are measuring a board to fit under the sink as a shelf, or use your police radar to identify who is speeding, we need to know that our tools know what level is, that our tools know which way is straight up, that our clocks are in synch with the universe, and that the meat scale at the Walmart Deli accurately knows when one pound of sandwich meat has been achieved.

Community standards, civic standards, religious organization standards and political discussion work to produce meaningful results when we use known, identified and agreed-upon standards.

May I be so bold as to suggest that maybe your personal reference point for knowing what is "left-ish" and what is "right-ish" are out of synchronization with the majority of those who worry about calibrating philosophical and political "norms".

It's a free country and if you want to attach yourself to a philosophy and a politics that are somewhat to the right, quite a bit to the right, or way-to-hell-and-gone head-banging right, knock yourself out!

Believe and practice what you like. But if you want to come to a discussion forum and have mature, adult exchange of thought with people, some of whom may be quite well calibrated as centrists, and some who may be a bit left-ish and some who may be way-to-hell-and-gone head-banging liberal left, use your terminology in such a way that it is not an insult in the face of the rest of us.

Click and Clack make fun of the fact that people in "my fair city" are not calibrated the same way as people around the square in Abilene, KS. I think they make it clear that now that they are mature and aging they have different values in cars than they did when they were much younger. Back when I was younger and trying to make a living out on the streets as a salesman of radio advertising, I realized while doing my taxes one year the 35 to 40% of my gross income went to keeping my car running.

That was probably the day I moved ever so slightly to the left and began adopting what today is called "tree hugger" mentality. Since then I have spen half a century observing where the center is, where the left is, and where the right is. And NPR is one very good tool for calibrating where the center is.

 

[w00t]

And NPR is one very good tool for calibrating where the center is.

Sure, in your opinion.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And NPR is one very good tool for calibrating where the center is.

Sure, in your opinion.

Keep in mind, I didn't say that NPR was perfectly centered. I did say it is a very good tool for calibrating where the center is.

I don't know that there is any resource that paints a big "X" on the wall and says: "THIS is the center."

One needs to have a couple of media resources that are obviously the picture of the center of the left. One needs to have a couple of media resources that are obviously the picture of the center of the right. One needs to have a couple of media resources that appear to be somewhere near the center of current thinking. Then your brain kicks in and with reasonable intelligence and wisdom one then knows where the center is. That does not mean one then has to become a center thinking person just because they now know where the center is. But it may put some pressure on one to explain why they choose to trot along at one extreme or the other.

One who chooses to run with one extreme or the other probably should not try to imply that where they choose to run is actually the center. Some extremists do make that claim and lose their credibility in the conversation.

Both NPR and PBS are pretty good and pointing out that people being interviewed do represent a particular place in the ideology spectrum.

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind this is not a black and white discussion. There's a broad spectrum of thought here, and not all conservatives or liberals think alike. Ted Nugent is a tree hugger of the first degree, but is also a political conservative. I was watching Nick Cannon tonight, and he's a Obama supporter, but doesn't care about environmental issues. That's why I cringe at these blanket statements about right and left.

 

[uncamark]

Keep in mind this is not a black and white discussion. There's a broad spectrum of thought here, and not all conservatives or liberals think alike. Ted Nugent is a tree hugger of the first degree, but is also a political conservative. I was watching Nick Cannon tonight, and he's a Obama supporter, but doesn't care about environmental issues. That's why I cringe at these blanket statements about right and left.

And it should be noted that there is a blog out there called NPR Check. The proprietor of that blog firmly believes that NPR has sold out to the Republican party and the corporations and that Steve Inskeep is a teabagger. My view is that NPR is very much a part of Official Washington and has been ever since Frank Mankiewicz was running the place in the early 80s. Some people think what Official Washington thinks is pragmatic. Some people on the far left think that Official Washington is Republican. They're also the people who are convinced that Amy Goodman is the only person on the air telling the truth. All of which makes me think that NPR must be doing something right if the extremes of both sides are P.O.ed at them.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

And it should be noted that there is a blog out there called NPR Check. The proprietor of that blog firmly believes that NPR has sold out to the Republican party and the corporations and that Steve Inskeep is a teabagger. My view is that NPR is very much a part of Official Washington and has been ever since Frank Mankiewicz was running the place in the early 80s. Some people think what Official Washington thinks is pragmatic. Some people on the far left think that Official Washington is Republican. They're also the people who are convinced that Amy Goodman is the only person on the air telling the truth. All of which makes me think that NPR must be doing something right if the extremes of both sides are P.O.ed at them.

I agree. I've felt since I heard the coverage of Desert Storm under Bush 43 that NPR is one of the few media outlets where you'll hear a more balance report. That approach seems to have continued and may be in part why NPR stations seem to have great ratings.

Amy Goodman is as biased as Rush Limbaugh, just in the opposite direction.

 

[recto101]

And it should be noted that there is a blog out there called NPR Check. The proprietor of that blog firmly believes that NPR has sold out to the Republican party and the corporations and that Steve Inskeep is a teabagger. My view is that NPR is very much a part of Official Washington and has been ever since Frank Mankiewicz was running the place in the early 80s. Some people think what Official Washington thinks is pragmatic. Some people on the far left think that Official Washington is Republican. They're also the people who are convinced that Amy Goodman is the only person on the air telling the truth. All of which makes me think that NPR must be doing something right if the extremes of both sides are P.O.ed at them.

I agree. I've felt since I heard the coverage of Desert Storm under Bush 43 that NPR is one of the few media outlets where you'll hear a more balance report. That approach seems to have continued and may be in part why NPR stations seem to have great ratings.

Amy Goodman is as biased as Rush Limbaugh, just in the opposite direction.

Amy Goodman works for Pacifica Radio not NPR. like KPFA San Francisco.

 

[musichead1029]

it should be noted that there is a blog out there called NPR Check. The proprietor of that blog firmly believes that NPR has sold out to the Republican party and the corporations and that Steve Inskeep is a teabagger.

And there are several hundred blogs that think that Steve Inskeep and his ilk are libtards.

The question is, why am I forced to pay for this clique's radio club? Let NPR be what it wants and attract the audience it wants. Let it build a glamorous headquarters and state of the art studios.

And, as a nonessential entity, let its well-heeled audience fund the network and its affiliates. Leave the taxpayers alone.

End of controversy.

 

[TheBigA]

The question is, why am I forced to pay for this clique's radio club?

Why am I forced to pay for all these wars? Why and I forced to fund two horse tracks? Shall I go down the list of all the ways my tax money is used against my will? All the parks and recreation I never use that's paid for with my tax dollars? All the forests and grazing land that should be sold to corporations rather than held by BLM.

That's the price of our way of government. You pay for things you don't need in order to also get some things you need. Grow up. The "me" generation is over.

 

[musichead1029]

That's the price of our way of government. You pay for things you don't need in order to also get some things you need. Grow up. The "me" generation is over.

Bleating about the necessity of funding trifles like public broadcasting is classic 'me' generation. "Me" knows what's best for "you." "You" just pay.

Grow up, eh? Here's the adult take, straight: We're bankrupt. You get to choose rationally how to prune the budget to match the revenues , or eventually, everything gets cut, partisan rants notwithstanding.

Deal with that.

 

[TheBigA]

Bleating about the necessity of funding trifles like public broadcasting is classic 'me' generation. "Me" knows what's best for "you." "You" just pay.

That's how government works. We know what war to fight, so you just pay. Public broadcasting is good for everyone. It's about public service and public ownership, not shareholder profit. If the airwaves belong to the public they should be run by the public. Not private corporations.

As far as bankrupt, the government is not a business. So don't use business language when talking about governments. The US can't go bankrupt. It's too big to fail. Just like AIG. If Republicans really were concerned about budget deficites, they wouldn't have done an occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Three specific things cause the current financial situation: Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Bush tax cuts. Remove those three things, and we're solvent again. Removing public broadcasting won't move the meters one bit. So how serious are people about solving the deficite?

 

[KTN Corp]

Amy Goodman is as biased as Rush Limbaugh, just in the opposite direction.

They practice two different professions. Amy Goodman is a journalist who covers stories that the mainstream media ignores or makes a passing mention of it. Rush Limbaugh is a political commentator who fills his 3 hour show with his opinions on the topics he chooses.