NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS (Public Broadcasting System) are both relics of a time of scarcity in regard to television and radio stations. No such scarcity exists in the days of cable, satellite and the internet. These organs have always been biased to the Left, that factor being diminished by how few people now listen or watch them. Time to axe any public funding to these broadcast dinosaurs who are relevant to today as newsboys on street corners hawking newspapers.
I first heard NPR in 1983 during my first co-op job. It was terrible then and is no doubt terrible now. I would rather turn the radio off then listen to it.
That ‘two facts’ tic reminds me of another trend in media. Whenever the press says something is ‘controversial’, you can bet your bank account that they are talking about a Republican or conservative issue, or opposition to a liberal/Democrat issue.
PBS programming is a mixed bag. Since Jim Lehrer retired, the News Hour has decayed into a Democratic Party infomercial. I think it’s been decades since the talking head programs (e.g. Washington Week) had any dissenters. Their documentary series – American Experience, Frontline, and POV – are also Democratic Party infomercials, although there are some offerings under the “American Experience” which are not. The science programming is passable (though often a bore). The detective serials are entertaining (though now infected with the wokery of British television). You have some satisfactory local programming in my area. Even 50 years ago, the children’s programming compared unfavorably to what was offered on commercial television or imported from Canada. (The muppets were entertaining, but did not require the Sesame Street matrix to be so). I have a suspicion that if you’d ever carefully questioned anyone, you’d have discovered that Fred Rogers was more appealing to ed school graduates than to actual children.
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As for NPR, their selection of content and their production values were good, but if they ever attempted to be impartial, they stopped around 1977 when their board put Frank Mankiewicz of all people in charge of it.
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Two things about public broadcasting and politics: (1) the whole saga reveals the utter ineffectuality of Republican politicians over a period of nearly sixty years and (2) the whole saga reveals yet another instance of liberals believing that public spaces and public institutions are their property.
Art-
Your last two points are so true:
Libs do think the commons belongs to them.
Republicans have failed to fight for far too many decades.
Please defund NPR and PBS. Thank you.
NPR/PBS suffers from a failure to accept that the marketplace determines the success of media programs. Regardless of your politics, the market is speaking when NCIS and some afternoon dramas last for over decades. Conversely, when public television must resort to importing British dramas to fill its time slots, that is also speaking. The news programs are viewed by single digit ratings and that speaks volumes. Media is like an election by those who consume it and those who consume should pay through advertisements, donations by individuals, etc., not by taxes.
I will miss Lawrence Welk but not the rest of NPR/PBS
Way back when, PBS had Firing Line and Dick Cavett (wherein the guests would discuss, among other things, the decay of grammar and diction), not to mention The McLaughlin Group, with McLaughlin’s stone-faced manner of calling on his co-hosts for their opinion: “Eleanor!” I really enjoyed those shows, even those I was probably too young to understand everything being discussed.
As for NPR, when I was in Norfolk and the ship was in Newsport News (one-hour commute), I would listen to Garrison Keillor’s Poem of the Day (or whatever it was called). Some of those poems really stayed with me–I’ve even used them in sermons and Evening Prayer aboard ships.
The only agreeable thing about McLaughlin was that it had contending opinions. Nowadays, the only Republicans on PBS are bogus – Margaret Hoover and David Brooks. Nothing has replaced Firing Line. (Though Hoover’s insipid program appropriated the name). Cavett had a career on commercial television as well as PBS. Keillor’s program was engaging. (Keillor is a perfectly rancid character in his mundane life).
I will miss Lawrence Welk but not the rest of NPR/PBS
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Welk was broadcast on commercial network television, later syndicated to local stations. Local PBS stations purchase rights to broadcast old episodes from whomever now owns them at this time. NPR and PBS hq have nothing to do with it.
The Dems will cling bitterly to NPR and PBS. In a way, it’s the last gasp of the WPA and the CCC (with all those “shovel-ready jobs”). It’s past time that the ghost of Joe Hill was exorcised from this nation.
The Dems will cling bitterly to NPR and PBS. In a way, it’s the last gasp of the WPA and the CCC (with all those “shovel-ready jobs”).
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The WPA was shut down in 1943. I think the CCC disappeared earlier. NPR and PBS were never work relief programs. The closest analogues would be Claiborne Pell’s national endowments. Pell’s endowments were gratuitous to begin with; public broadcasting had a niche to fill fifty years ago. It wouldn’t be disagreeable to have them around if they actually were impartial in a rough sort of way. You can have a gander at Fred Barnes’ critique of NPR published in 1987. Also, look at the original Rothman-Lichter studies published in 1982. PBS had the strongest skew of any national news organization at the time.
[…] Corrections to Calculate the Year of Jesus’ Birth & Death – Deacon Frank at C Stand7. Relics of a Bygone Era – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at the American Catholic8. Jesus of Nazareth (1977) – […]
While we’re at it, Hayden Daniel of The Federalist discusses another relic.
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https://thefederalist.com/2025/03/28/national-review-is-indistinguishable-from-a-leftist-rag-on-signal-gate/
“Two things about public broadcasting and politics:”
Boy, ain’t those the truth!
It’s sad when you realize the Republicans have most of the genuinely good ideas, yet almost none of the active political clout, Democrats have most of the genuinely horrid ideas, yet almost all of the active political clout.
…Thus why I have been a relatively reluctant Republican for most of my voting life.
“…if you’d ever carefully questioned anyone, you’d have discovered that Fred Rogers was more appealing to ed school graduates than to actual children.”
Ouch! I more or less grew up on Mr Rodgers, Sesame Street, and 3-2-1 Contact. I have many fond memories of all three. As I reached my teens, I discovered that CBS News came right after 3-2-1, though on a different channel. Then the “local” (statewide) news at six.
Then we’d eat.