I got a call back from the VP of programming of our local PBS station.

[madfloridian]

I wasn't home, but I am making some notes in case he calls back. I had told them that a lot of us contacted for donations were quite aware that PBS was going to be caught in a financial vise soon by the Bush heavy CPB, the right wingers who just wanted it one way, and us....most of us want the truth told.

I asked the lady what did she think would happen if they just stood up for the truth, made it clear they would not be pressured, and took a chance on getting donations from people who support a lack of bias.

I was surprised at the call-back, because I had told them I did not think anything I donated would matter since they were getting bigger fish in the pot (like Walmart...I think) and succumbing to pressure.

I am very worried about this and NPR. I feel that the monies we donate should go where they will make a difference, and I don't think PBS can change.

The lady told me to remember that they aired the unedited version of Frontline. I told her there should never have been a question....it was the face of war and there should have been no second thoughts.

I asked when they would again have NOW as a full hour permanently, and she did not have a clue.

I feel bad about this. I hope he calls back, but if he does he won't understand. They really don't understand there is such an organized group doing this to them. And they fear the FCC so much. I see no point in donating since the sum would not be large enough to matter.

[madfloridian]

1. A couple of articles on their dilemma.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/0205/18pbslineup.html
PBS, in hot water, will review lineup


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33612-2005Feb17.html
Who Framed Buster Rabbit, the Fallout continues.

[Dover]

2. Seems that by NOT donating $, you just assure this scenario though.

A catch 22 for everyone. Hopefully they will simply ride out the times and the pendulum will soon swing back to center or even left.

[madfloridian]

5. But look at it this way....name the programs that are not conservative

in nature. When you do that, you will be alarmed. NOW being cut to half an hour, Tucker Carlson added. And I am not even sure of who else might be there. I realize they are needed but the pressure is very strong on them from the CPB.

[magellan]

3. I don't feel particularly sorry for PBS

Funny how stations like Free Speech TV and Link manage to keep going although they have no corporate sponsors and rely totally on public funding. PBS on the other hand has bent over for mega-corporations like Mobil and so forth for decades. The vice they find themselves in is of their own making.

If they wanted to do the right thing -- throw off the corporate chains and bias -- I'd donate to them, and I'm sure a lot of other people would too. But as it stands I agree with you, MadFloridian. Why support PBS when they aren't apt to support the truth?

[O.M.B.inOhio]

4. And they added that Tucker guy to my local programming

Coincidentally, Tucker rhymes with my pet name for him. Their nature shows are still OK, but just wait until Nova has full programs debunking global climate change and extolling the virtues of mercury in your diet. Think Newshour will do a piece on sweatshops that provide for Wal-Mart, much less suggest in a story that the people getting poisoned by factories in rural China are casualties in a Wal-Mart-led economic war?

At the moment, I'm feeling that my membership money would benefit them better by supporting political entitied that might free PBS from the Reich Wing.

[madfloridian]

6. Public Broadcasting veers to the right....and other good articles.

Public Broadcasting veers to the right.
http://www.alternet.org/story/18831

PBS to fight for Federal funding.
http://www.beachbrowser.com/Archives/eVoid/July-99/PBS-Will-Fight-For-Federal-Funding.htm

Thoughts on the funding of public television and radio.
http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv027.htm
This one seems to just deny, deny and deny any influence from the government or elsewhere.

http://ga3.org/publictelevision/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=2858130
CPB Reauthorization Bill Passes Senate Committee for the First Time Since 1992
Procedural Snafu Delays Amendment to Further Improve the Bill

[Enquiringkitty]

7. I like "Masterpiece Theater" but it use to be on broadcast TV when I was

a kid and was then sponsored by Mobile or some other gas company. Their ratings got low so PBS picked them up. They were good while they didn't have sponsors and relied on public donations. My local station even has commercials from local shops and if they show something they don't like they really scream about it.

Maybe if we all donated and called our local PBS station and tell them we want to see more liberal spots and we pay to see it just like the shops, and Mobile, and the Reps do, we could get more or equal shows on.

By the way, who owns PBS????

[Bridget Burke]

11. Masterpiece Theater has been on PBS as long as I can remember....

And I go back to "Upstairs, Downstairs."

My own PBS station has done a couple of non-whorish things recently. This year, they'll probably get a check with an admonitory letter.

Will my contribution really "matter"? Hey, why even bother to vote?

[jdots]

8. P.B.S. has been an irritant to the turd maggots since the 60s

N.P.R. is now a vacume of yuppy dribble.Unfortunately our chances of seeing or hearing public broadcasting are slim.
Facists hate the truth and they hate education.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

9. Suggest you find a "Pacifica" station

in your area to listen to. If you can't find one, you can stream it. Truly, PUBLIC radio. No corporate funding, no Government funding, beholden to no one but their listeners who provide 100% of the financial support, AND, they tell the truth!
http://www.pacifica.org/

On edit, sending them even really small donations helps!

[SmokingJacket]

10. I wonder if they're just trying to survive as an entity...

and when this "reign of witches" ends they hope to go back to doing what they used to do.

Unfortunately, we only have so much money to donate, and at this point I'd rather give my money to the station that carries Pacifica.

I never thought I'd say this, but if NPR is just like a commercial station, what have we lost when it goes?

[gratuitous]

12. ". . . he won't understand."

When a man's paycheck depends on his not seeing something, you can be pretty sure that he won't see it. Even if it's dangling just in front of his nose.

Maybe it's time to think the unthinkable: Public stations are no longer operated for the public good, but only as an additional outlet for corporate propaganda. Think you'll ever see something on Jim Lehrer's news program about the corporate perfidy of Archer Daniels Midland?

[O.M.B.inOhio]

14. I remember an NPR story on ADM...

... and the ADM sponsorship recognition (whatever you call the ad) disappeared from quite some time. so it seems.

[AP]

13. Good response to the Frontline point.