National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have no business being supported by taxpayer dollars. Even if there is some worthwhile programming on both public networks, there’s no reason that American corporations and wealthy people can’t step in and fund programming that can compete with cable and satellite offerings.
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Public radio and TV were created in the 1950s when many people could only get two or three networks. Given that TV was considered to be a “vast wasteland,” as former FCC chairman Newton Minow described it, the government believed the American people should have more elevating fare to watch.
PBS “serves the American public with programming and services of the highest quality, using media to educate, inspire, entertain and express a variety of perspectives,” according to the network’s Mission and Values.
More often than not, PBS and NPR fail in that mission. Instead of a lot of American pablum-like sitcoms and formulaic police dramas, PBS features British pablum with formulaic police dramas; the only real difference is that the characters speak with British accents.
PBS occasionally rises above the level of banality with excellent science and nature programming and some good children’s programming. Occasionally, it hits a home run with history programs like most “American Experience” episodes. Beyond that, political programming is biased to the point of being humorous, and “culture” programming isn’t much better.
Their mission now includes the dubious goal of creating programs for “underrepresented communities.” There are plenty of wealthy black, Hispanic, and female companies and individuals who can fund programs for “underrepresented communities” and sell them to one of the dozens of cable channels.
It’s one more reason to cut off taxpayer funds to these companies.
Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr is investigating the use of “prohibited commercial advertisements” by PBS and NPR in the form of illegal “underwriting sponsorships.” The announcer reads off these lists of sponsors at the beginning and/or end of the programming.
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Sometimes, there’s more than just reading the sponsor’s name. Sometimes, there’s a very short video and usually the company’s logo. Does this violate federal law? Carr is looking into it.
Carr sent a letter to NPR and PBS telling them of the investigation and informing them that he would turn over any evidence to Congress, which is salivating at the chance to cut off funding to public media entities.
“In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” he wrote, according to the New York Times.
“To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for-profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars,” Carr continued.
PBS and NPR denied they were violating the law.
“PBS is proud of the noncommercial educational programming we provide to all Americans through our member stations. We work diligently to comply with the FCC’s underwriting regulations and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Commission,” a PBS spokesperson told Fox News.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. “NPR programming and underwriting messaging complies with federal regulations, including the FCC guidelines on underwriting messages for noncommercial educational broadcasters, and Member stations are expected to be in compliance as well,” Maher said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
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Trump has spoken several times about his distaste for public TV and radio. Cutting off funding for them will be a challenge, considering that whatever benefit there is from public broadcasting, Democrats garner the lion’s share.
I love “Nova” and “Nature” and watch every new episode that’s broadcast. Unfortunately, the number of new episodes for those two excellent shows and “The American Experience” has fallen precipitously in recent years.
You can’t tell me that the History Channel or the Science Channel wouldn’t pick up any of those programs if PBS lost funding. It’s the same for any Ken Burns documentary or some of the programming from “underrepresented communities.” The media universe has been revolutionized, and it’s time for the old dinosaurs PBS, and NPR to sign off and go dark.
