Comment by tptacek
1 day ago
I think the cuts are bad and certainly there will be programming losses. It's just not an existential threat to public media in America, which has over the last 20 years become far less dependent on local stations. GBH, which produces Frontline, gets $177MM in revenue from major donors and viewer subscriptions.
I think I am starting to get paranoid but I wouldn’t be too surprised if they went after these donors next.
I don't know if I'm the only one that finds fault with:
> GBH, which produces Frontline, gets $177MM in revenue from major donors and viewer subscriptions.
Given Frontline is a production for public consumption, for public good, it shouldn't have to be financed by donations, it absolutely should be financed by the federal government.
I find your tone (sorry) offensive, in the sense that you DON'T find it dramatic and just plain terrible that CPB had to cease operations, just because billionaires feel it's a waste of "money that could be in their pocket" and obviously they prefer the greater population to be clueless and ignorant.
Me? I am furious. But what can I do besides the usual? Write my congresscritters, call them, write angry posts on Hackernews, donate?
Frontline is a product, just like all the rest of journalism. The time to have gotten on this high horse was when Craigslist slaughtered local media.
They are horrible, and given that we now live in a fascist state run by fascists, I am just waiting for the pendium to reverse, and knock all of them out of existence, AGAIN. (Frontline rocks, NPR, and all of PBS rocks).
Yeah, I think you underestimate the structural dependency.
Xkcd comic is closer to reality. There is a base load to public good and we are about to find out
We'll find out, but I think always the bias on HN is towards whichever interpretation of an event is most dramatic.
It's unfortunate, but as someone who's been on HN since probably 2010, I remember the ethos of this site to news like this used to be a lot more "let's find an opportunity" – maybe I'm looking with rose colored glasses.
People would say "should we setup a donation site" or "how can we build a product that saves local affiliate stations money" etc etc etc. Maybe that's still happening quietly. But I just see a lot more doom nowadays in HN comments. (Just a feeling, obviously no data whatsoever to back it up)
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We are now in a timeline where dramatic concerns are legitimate. I would love to be proven wrong on this, but there's plenty of clues to show that I'm not.
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