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What is the point of PBS and NPR?

PirateMk1 said:
A lot of their programing already does essentially. Sesame Street being a prime example. Only 5% of their budget comes from the Feds.
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14% between feds and states.
 
I live in rural southeast GA. My one hour commute to and from work would be top 40 crap or rush limbaugh type programming without NPR. Anyone who questions NPR (GPB), which has it's own programming, should spend a week listening. Over the air as well as online. You will not get this type of reporting anywhere else on radio in this country. Political rewind, science friday, and other shows bring all voices to the table. And if you never got to listen to the tappet brothers on Saturday, you have missed a great bit of Americana. I already contribute and am prepared to double it when the cuts come. I urge you to try it for a day.
 
eohrnberger said:
14% between feds and states.
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Depends on the show, Sesame Street its less than 5% and HBO pays most of their budget is my understanding. Then there is the merchandising they have. Suffice to say, they don't need Uncle Sugar.
 
PirateMk1 said:
Depends on the show, Sesame Street its less than 5% and HBO pays most of their budget is my understanding. Then there is the merchandising they have. Suffice to say, they don't need Uncle Sugar.
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I just grabbed the overall number from NPR's web site, so yeah, CPB's number might be / probably are a bit different.

Yeah, I'm not seeing a compelling need for government / tax payer funding either. While some have brought to light some of the admiral qualities of CBP and NPR, that's only part of it.

I'm not seeing where you couldn't have those same things without government / tax payer funding.
 
Kobie said:
It's the Cliff's Notes version.



There's more (it's essentially a mission statement), but nothing that's not basically covered by the preamble.
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For $1.36 it's a bargain.

I support PBS/NPR with a monthly pledge as well. In many areas of the country w/o broadband it provides content and education/classes for underfunded school systems and community colleges, pre-k and kindergarten content in areas where it's not offered. Everyone here I'm sure watches PBS more often than they may admit for the arts, sciences, cooking, current events and docs.
 

Don't need it. The rural areas that have need for farm reports and the like already have that on the commercial end. Hell XM Sirius has a farm and ranch channel at least part time. So I don't know where there is a need for publicly funded radio and television.
 
What a slam toward those in rural areas, eohrnberger!

XM Sirius costs MUCH more than the $1.36 in taxes per/yr and does not offer the content that PBS does.
 
Commercial-free education news and the arts is an invaluable resource.
 
I liked PBS for bringing old Brit comedy shows to the US.
Like "Are you being served?" and "Faulty Towers."

Now though, I can watch it online.
NPR is ok, but it's got an ideological tilt.

It's really not necessary now though and curse them for some of those kids shows.
That "Caillou" kids show is insufferable.
 
Manc Skipper said:
Commercial-free education news and the arts is an invaluable resource.
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Don't forget Nova and Nature. I lot of amazing scientific shows come out of PBS. I don't see why the government shouldn't support programs to help promote the sciences. I know politically they are bias, but surely it's worth it for all the educational value they have?
 

I have to admit, Nova is one of my favorites as well.

But in spite of all the good things that we are mentioning, I'm still not seeing any justification that the tax payer needs to be on the hook for it.
Why does the CBP need tax payer money? What obligates the tax payer to support CBP?
Just citing good deeds isn't it. Lots of people do good deeds, as we can see from the funding sources for NPR.
 
eohrnberger said:
I agree, commercial free is nice. Major plus with a DVR is to be able to skip past the commercials.
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The point of being commercial free is they can broadcast intelligent programming without worrying about ratings. The viewers are the customers, while with commercial broadcasters the viewers are the product, what they sell to their customers. That distinction makes a big difference in the quality of the programs.
 
Kobie said:
Oy vey.

You need someone to explain to you why public broadcasting exists?
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If you cant explain it we will understand

Big government liberals just take it for granted the Uncle Sugar owes them free stuff.
 
Manc Skipper said:
Commercial-free education news and the arts is an invaluable resource.
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Why?

Because the bleeding heart liberals at PBS might turn into free market capitalists?
 
ANSWER: To give citizens the tools to be better happier citizens, so that we may all be better off, that's what the education is for.
 

because sometimes "We The People" need to go down on record supporting important things, to message "This is who we are".
 

"...The purpose of public media is to provide programs and services that are educational, innovative, locally relevant, and reflective of America's common values and cultural diversity; and to address the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, especially children and minorities; and to provide content and services that foster dialogue and engagement among members of the audience and the broader community..."​

IOW, public media provides a public service that benefits local community's that a network or cable channels can't or won't provide.
 
PirateMk1 said:
A lot of their programing already does essentially. Sesame Street being a prime example. Only 5% of their budget comes from the Feds.
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When they jerked the wheel left many years ago, they lost the "public", and "national" parts of their name. It's not reasonable to ask every American taxpayer to fund an operation that has an ideological agenda.

Note that nobody is trying to sink their operations, just eliminate taxpayer support. Their change in programing was their choice, and they should be required to live with that decision.
 
Mac77 said:
If you cant explain it we will understand

Big government liberals just take it for granted the Uncle Sugar owes them free stuff.
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Some big government liberals pay a pile in taxes and view PBS/NPR as one of the better values for what they pay.
 
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