The future of NPR

Poststructural Pub
1

I believe NPR is the green spot on the blighted landscape of American media. I know that people sometimes accues NPR of “liberal bias” but in the years of listening I haven’t detected any, but maybe that’s me. Everyone will agree, though, that coverage on NPR isn’t partisan, that it’s broad, and that it is special: Hardly any place else can you hear reports that take their time, that will face the complexity of life and politics.

Anyway: Plans are to slash funding for NPR, CBS and the National Endowment for the Arts. Sesame Street is to go first, aparently. Over the years there have been spades of phoney scares that NPR funding is to be cut, but this time it seems to be real.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902283.html
http://www.freepress.net/publicbroadcasting/

I’d hate to miss it:

http://www.npr.org/

Anybody know what we can do to stop cuts to NPR?

2

I’ve received 3 e-mails today from friends urging me to go to moveon.org to sign an on-line petition to save NPR and PBS. I did so right away and am wearing my NPR T-shirt at work today :slight_smile:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Thanks, Bloomie, for the chance and excuse to share this link!

M

3

I just got an email, too, with a phone number to call:

Just got word that the Appropriation Committee will vote on NPR/PBS
funding tomorrow (Thursday, June 16).

So it is important that we act immediately to show our strength.

…

And call the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee today to
demand
that they immediately work to restore full funding for public
broadcasting:

Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA): (202) 225-5861

Vice-Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH): (202) 225-3876

I just called, and they’ll pass my message along to Chairman Jerry Lewis. I got through right away. :slight_smile:

4

We must continue to fund the war. There are millions of third world people begging to live the dream of America at all costs, even if they don’t know it yet.
Art has no place in post 9/11 United States.
Trivialities like NPR must give way to the needs of our mighty leader and his high level corporate friends.

5

We can give more money ourselves.

I only listen to public radio, most of it NPR, so this is from the point of view of a fan. As you said, the death-knell of NPR has been sounded many times before, and I think they were MUCH closer to being slashed a couple of years ago than they are now. The House will zero them out, the Senate will slash, then they’ll be fully funded in conference.

I don’t think it would necessarily be a bad thing for NPR to rely considerably less on Federal funds. Face it, they produce more shows than can possibly be broadcast by a station, and I think they really could trim down a bit. I also have a problem with “public” stations having 30-second spots sponsored by companies – what’s the difference between a 30-second promo spot that Merck has produced and a commercial?

6

Did anyone else hear Bill O’Reilly being interviewed by Terry Gross on her NPR program, “Fresh Air”? It was about a year and a half ago, and O’Reilly ended the interview abruptly after whining about how Al Franken received better treatment. I found my self in front of a TV at my parent’s house later that day where Bill O’Reilly was doing his show and giving his take. His guest was a right-wing member of congress, (I can’t recall who,) and was announcing his intention to end funding to NPR and PBS. It’s obvious that the Bush Administration is set on destroying the network when you consider the person appointed to head PBS has openly advocated it’s demise, similar to how Bush’s choice to head the UN, John Bolton, openly and rabidly denounced the UN and advocated ending it.

I would very strongly encourage everyone who appreciates the diversity of programming and opinion that is represented by PBS, and absent on corporate media, be motivated to act on behalf of PBS by contacting your representatives and signing petitions etc.

7

I’ll do it. When I listen to the radio that’s all I listen to.

8

Bill Moyers was on Chris Mathews’ show last week and this subject came up.

Moyers expressed dismay that the current President of PBS, a conservative appointee believes PBS has been doing liberally biased reporting. Moyers said he has requested meetings with him to discuss this, but, so far, can’t get an appointment.

Moyers said that conservatives believe that reporting any news that reflects badly on consevative beliefs or figures is biased liberal reporting. For example that reporting of Abu Ghraib prison last year was biased reporting because it cast Rumsfeld and Bush in a bad light.

9

Sesame Street goes first? Cripes! Not that anyone in my house is of that age anymore, but I still sing Sesame St. ditties on a regular basis.
I’m particularly fond of “Every story has a beginning middle and and end…bum bumbum, bum, bumbum…and when it’s over you can go back and tell it all again…Seymour catches a ride on a friendly pteradactyl…etc.”
Clearly derived from “And She Was” by the Talking Heads.
Anyway…so much cleverer than most of the commercial junk.

10

I may be mistaken, but the consrvative Bush appointee who is bitching about bias is the head of CPB, Ken Ferree, and not the head of PBS. The CPB (Corpration for Public Broadcasting) is a semi-governmental agency that disburses funds from the feds to the various public broadcasting entities.

Maybe it’s time to blow off the federal money. As long as they make a contribution to the pie, they have a say in who is served. CPB currently provides $400M and the congress is threatening to cut that to $100M. That is a lot of mazola to make up out of the listeners’ and viewers’ pockets, and I have no doubt that programming will suffer, at least at first,. According to the PBS website, 24% of their budget comes from federal sources; NPR gets 13% of theirs. However, if the feds are going to cut it out 75% of the grant I say let them cut it all.

It is not possible for broadcasting, especially broadcast news, to serve two masters - the commercial offerings suck because they are trying to balance presenting news (public interest) with making a profit (corporate interest). If the feds are going to attach strings to the money, then it might be best in the long run to just say no.

Frankly, I am sick and tired of the right-wing politicos whingeing about how biased public broadcasting is. I don’t hear them saying too much about Fox or Clear Channel; most of the other electronic media outlets have solid pro-establishment bias and still catch flak when they stray too far from the party line.

I’ve had $30/mo drawn straight from my Visa to WEKU for several years now. I’ll go to $50 if congress strangles CPB.

Who’s with me?

Roger

11

I am interested in seeing PBS continue but I gotta tell ya, I cannot stand the way Bill Moyers has become the ubiquitous gasbag he is, thanks to PBS.

The guy’s ego is as big as OReilly’s or Sean Vannity, but just because he is on PBS, he gets an intellectual pass. Every show he does has to have the obligatory “Bill Moyers presents” or whatever prefix. Charlie Rose is another one.

When I consider our celebrity culture, there is something annoying about the fact that these two-ton egos were facilitated by public tv. They are just part of the same celebrity culture as the commerical ones and they are cleaning up on the speech and book tours in the same way. I always feel that somehow, PBS viewers are fooled into seeing them in a different light than what they deserve. They are just rich celebrity guys, okay?

McLaughlin too. I am pretty sure his show started on PBS. Who appointed him king anyway? Buh-bye.

I can just see all these guys at some Manhattan cocktail party, yucking it up with all the swells…Glib, entertaining, what really is the difference between them and commercial celebs? Their politics?

I think I enjoy the performance programs the most. Even Frontline reminds me of 60 Minutes without the clock. The quality of their reporting, (investigation vs. agenda-serving) has varied from show to show. They do have that incredibly melodramatic voiceover guy that really makes everything sound sinister…

I guess the problem is, that whenever PBS gets political, its inevitable that they are going to go down the same road as other NorthEast Coast elite culture, which to me, have disproportionate power in this country, whether they are liberal or conservative.

I think this is part of the reason the Brit shows are so big. There are plenty of people like me that just want something DIFFERENT, and we get it on PBS.[/i]

12

I’m sure that’s correct.

13

I like NPR and PBS, and I understand their need for donations, but the local PBS station is starting to get on my nerves. I donate regularly, but at least twice a month I get a letter from the PBS station asking their members to “please consider giving an additional gift”. I find it very irritating.

14

It’s that way here too, slude. They just can’t get enough. This is what leads outsiders to consider it an insular self-serving strata of society that is not interested in the larger picture, whether its true or not.

Just consider it a tithe to your secular humanist church!

15

I was going to say this in my post above, but you’ve said it much better than I could have

Frankly, I am sick and tired of the right-wing politicos whingeing about how biased public broadcasting is. I don’t hear them saying too much about Fox or Clear Channel; most of the other electronic media outlets have solid pro-establishment bias and still catch flak when they stray too far from the party line.

It cuts both ways. Some of us are just as sick and tired of liberals complaining about O’Reilly, Rush, et al. Plus sick and tired of both liberals and conservatives harping on the network news. The networks may have biases, but their journalism is so pathetic, I don’t know why anyone would watch them long enough to detect a bias.

I’ve had $30/mo drawn straight from my Visa to WEKU for several years now. I’ll go to $50 if congress strangles CPB.

Who’s with me?

I am.

16

This is an amazing statement. Bill Moyers is one of the most eloquent speakers of our time and deserves praise for his courage to speak out. Pundits like Michael Savage come across as totally absurd by comparison. Anyone that considers Moyers to be a “gasbag” might want to read his address on this very subject to the National Conference on Media Reform before they make such a ridiculous claim. The attack that Moyers receives from right-wingers is a testament to the power of persuasion as a sane and reasonable voice on subjects that challenge current corporate and government policy regarding the media.

‘Our Democracy is in Danger of Being Paralyzed’

Keynote Address to the National Conference on Media Reform
By Bill Moyers
Saturday 08 November 2003

Click on title to read article

17

Well, perhaps. But the problem of course is that ineloquence appeals to those who are tired of eloquence. Also, you’ve read enough posts just here on the chiffboard that I can’t believe that you are really amazed. Especially since you seem to be aware of the attacks Moyers receives from right-wingers. And I don’t know what pundit means (I used to, but no one else seems to think it means what I thought it means). And you’re not convincing anyone of Moyers’ reasonableness by going off about “totally absurd” or “ridiculous.”

I’m with Chas, and sick of every discussion always turning into a shouting match about who is more biased.

18

Considering the nature of this thread, the letters from PBS are understandable, in my mind.

Jef

19

I’d hate to see NPR and PBS go away. I learn one more perspective from that side. To me, it doesn’t matter where the news comes from or how it’s presented–with commentary woven in, for example, to give it a certain twist. I think this is good for people. It makes them wise to subtleties.

I especially enjoy Frontline. Documentaries don’t have to become “indoctrinations” unless you let them. I just put all information in a test tube and decide later if it’s worth becoming part of my view of things.

Public radio may not be partisan, esp as much as it use to be, but all my liberal friends sure love it and have often, affectionately yet jokingly, referred to it as National Socialist Republic Radio. My conservative friends enjoy a lot of it too, but will argue with their radios while listening to most broadcasts.

Years ago, when I first started listening to it, I did notice that news about Israel seemed to take priority. I never did understand that esp when natural disasters topped the news stations elsewhere on the same day.

20

So you’ve never heard Michael Savage I take it? If you had, you might see what I mean. Even though I’m obviously lacking in the eloquence of people like Bill Moyers, my post was basically a response to Moyers being referred to as a “gasbag.” But I don’t know if I’d qualify my statement as a “shouting match.” If you want to hear shouting - tune into Michael’s show, “Savage Nation,” and you’ll get more than you bargained for in the way of shouting matches. The real error in my post was even mentioning Moyers and Savage in the same post… there’s no comparison really.