This is another one of those "issues that won't die." What is the proper position of PBS and are they biased to the "left?" Personally, I have always watched and enjoyed PBS. Here in Chicago, we have a great PBS station in WTTW and the lesser known but also informative WYCC. They simply show things that you cannot see anywhere else. WTTW is also pretty good at producing local interest programming that tackles issues important to people in the region.
PBS has been under attack ever since Richard Nixon attacked it 35 years ago and it has been a constant bete noir to the "right" ever since.
This article by the always interesting Molly Ivins gets to the heart of the matter.
PBS cannot become the media mouthpiece of the government. That is the last thing that we need. And no, most of the programming is not politically charged. Have your political sensibilities ever been insulted, changed or destroyed by Antiques Roadshow, This Old House, Masterpiece Theater or Barney? The news/current events programming, as Ivins points out, are painfully well-balanced and now that Bill Moyers is gone, there is little for rightists to complain about.
Don't like PBS? Just change the channel and watch the other shit that is usually smeared over the television landscape. Maybe Newton Minow had a point in 1961 when he called television a "vast wasteland."
Better yet, read a book while you still can.
Do Not Worry
4 years ago
1 comment:
I think the PBS issue is one that is examplary of the right's agenda to wipe out dissenting views, or views that have the possibility of dissent. It's not that the programming is completely "leftist" in nature, it is that the program provides an opportunity for views other than that of the right. Providing an opportunity (other than a token apperance by Jon Stewart on Crossfire, or interviewing one protester at a rally, etc.) for the "left" to speak is liberal bias enough.
If they have their way, all we'll have left is Mr. Colmes.
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