Comment by tptacek
21 hours ago
Public television and public radio isn't going anywhere, at least not anywhere any of the rest of linear media isn't already going.
21 hours ago
Public television and public radio isn't going anywhere, at least not anywhere any of the rest of linear media isn't already going.
Of course, if you live in a large metro the local stations will survive due to large numbers of wealthy and middle class benefactors. This is not necessarily so if you live in a typical red state middle size city or less.
Somewhat ironically a lot of the extreme cuts (this included) only serve to reinforce the status of major blue state metros as more desirable, since they have more resources available to fill the gaps left by federal austerity.
People in red states mostly watch PBS online. Linear media is obsolete and has been for a long time.
> Somewhat ironically a lot of the extreme cuts (this included) only serve to reinforce the status of major blue state metros as more desirable, since they have more resources available to fill the gaps left by federal austerity.
If the people in the red states aren't willing to pay for it, it would seem that they don't think it's desirable. Capitalism is funny that way.
I get that you're trying to say that the pie is smaller overall, but the principle still applies.
It's not that they aren't willing to pay for it. When you actually ask them, they often do support paying for these things.
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We have a capitalist economy, not a capitalist society. The government exists to fill gaps where the market fails. CPB is one example of this. USPS is another. People who look at these organizations like businesses are fools.
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Public television and public radio stations are literally being shut down, now, as per the topic article. Any station meaningfully relying on CPB is done.
I'm sure they will, but public funding for my local NPR and PBS stations amounts to something like 5% of their budget; they aren't going anywhere. NPR and PBS as institutions are more threatened by the Internet than they are by this funding cut.
I don't support the cut, but I get the vibe that many people commenting on this thread don't know what CPB is.
OK, but iirc you live in a big city (as do I). This is gonna be a serious problem for people in rural areas, and as well as decline in broadcasting operations it will probably mean less quality news coverage of rural issues, and so fewer rural stories on big-city NPR/PBS stations.
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> public funding for my local NPR and PBS stations
Ah, so it's not going anywhere because it's not directly affecting your station. Got it. For many other people it is going away.
This will affect your station though. Lots of stations spent a good bit of their budgets on content from PBS and NPR. While direct federal sources aren't a massive chunk of their income, revenues from member stations is. This will impact the content your local public TV and radio station will get.
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The people who voted for the politicians implementing this generally live in those areas, so I think everyone is getting what they wanted on the whole?
To be clear, I am not in favor of these cuts, but nothing is preventing state, local or private contributions from keeping these stations on the air.