Comment by BeetleB
21 hours ago
I identify neither as a liberal nor as a conservative, but outsiders will likely see a left bent in me.
The thing about PBS and NPR: I just don't have any alternatives! Wherever I've lived, all the other radio stations/channels just suck - liberal or not. MSNBC, CNN, Fox News totally suck. ABC, CBS, NBC mostly suck. The half-good radio stations are just way too biased and make NPR/PBS appear like paragons of neutraltity. I can tolerate losing NPR/PBS if I had alternatives. I simply don't.
Conservatives lump NPR/PBS viewers with other liberals. It's generally not true. All my liberal friends declare NPR to be "part of the problem". NPR/PBS viewers are just in another category altogether. They don't have choices.
I'd really like to hear from conservatives: Are there any channels/radio stations they like? Their complaint is continually that NPR/PBS is too left wing (which I can dispute but won't). But do they have a gaping hole in their choices the way people like me are about to have?
I like that NPR/PBS is calm. Most other outlets are based around breaking news, excitement, and often anger. I started watching PBS News Hour on youtube this year. Now I can't stand watching a show like ABC evening news which starts with intense music and urgent words from Muir at the start of every broadcast.
The flagship big-city / large-state stations will very likely continue to function. The real hit for this action will be in rural regions where alternatives to the local NPR translator station are typically religious stations, right-wing talk, and increasingly Spanish-language programming.
If you've access to streaming media, podcasts, or shortwave, you still do have options.
There are several excellent national broadcasters, with the CBC, BBC, and ABC (Australia) operating in English, or a reasonable facsimile. There are often English-language broadcasts from non-anglophone countries, including France (France-24) and Germany (Deutsche-Welle English service), off the top of my head.
Of course, these will get you international news (and occasionally national stories from the broadcaster's home state), but you're straight outta luck for journalism local to your area. OTOH, NPR and PBS have struggled to deliver that (as has commercial news media) for the past decade or two.
If you've always wanted to learn a foreign language but never quite had the inspiration to do so, a further option is to start listening to non-anglophone country's native programming, whether broadcast (shortwave or Internet streaming) or podcast. There are many excellent options. I'm particularly fond of German radio's programming (Deutschlandfunk and its variants, the federated public broadcasting model might offer some lessons and learnings to PBS and NPR going forward), though there are others on top of that.
I round things out with text-based news, typically major newspapers (e.g., NYTimes, Guardian), or newswires (Reuters is pretty good).
But yes, the state of streaming / OTA / linear-programmed news media in the US is absolutely abysmal.
That's nice, but I'm not looking for news - I already get that from better sources than NPR. I'm looking for good, thoughtful, engaging content.
I’ll listen to snippets of right wing talk radio but it generally doesn’t take long before the exaggeration (Glenn Beck) or Trump idol worship (Clay Travis) get annoying.
I like hearing perspectives on stories that I won’t hear elsewhere but in general, I don’t need very much political news in my life. I’m happier spending my time on audio books and podcasts.
I’m not sure I’ve ever engaged with NPR beyond seeing conservatives mock some of their silliest propaganda headlines in the past few years.
> I’m not sure I’ve ever engaged with NPR beyond seeing conservatives mock some of their silliest propaganda headlines in the past few years.
What about all the nonpolitical shows on NPR/PBS? Snap Judgement, This American Life, Prairie Home Companion, Nature, NOVA, etc.
Lots of people watch PBS/NPR not for politics, but for the entertainment/educational content.
I’ve never watched any of them. Maybe Nova a few times when I was a kid.
PBS/NPR will be fine. Their business model might have to change but that might ultimately be a good thing.
Prairie Home Companion died almost 8 years ago man don't remind me.
I’ll listen to snippets of right wing talk radio but it generally doesn’t take long before the exaggeration (Glenn Beck) or Trump idol worship (Clay Travis) get annoying.
I remember being in the gym and catching some coverage of Fox News on Trumps trade war and potential deals. I believe the quote from one of the people talking was something like:
"We don't know the specifics about what's in this deal but we do know that this is a huge win for American businesses and the American people."
Fox News. Supposedly they love the thing, although it gets a bit left-wing radical at times.