One down.
I don't support the cut, but I get the vibe that many people commenting on this thread don't know what CPB is.
Ah, so it's not going anywhere because it's not directly affecting your station. Got it. For many other people it is going away.
This will affect your station though. Lots of stations spent a good bit of their budgets on content from PBS and NPR. While direct federal sources aren't a massive chunk of their income, revenues from member stations is. This will impact the content your local public TV and radio station will get.
Some stations will lose 2%, others 98%.
Like, for elderly viewers, availability of linear media still matters (something I've learned tediously through serving on a local commission managing our cable franchise). But... that's basically it?
So, back to: this is not an existential threat to PBS or NPR. I think people think I'm being glib when I say the Internet is a bigger threat to PBS (as an institution called "PBS") than this funding cut. I'm not being glib.
Is the source of that 60/40 more substantial than any part of your anatomy?
> Like, for elderly viewers, availability of linear media still matters (something I've learned tediously through serving on a local commission managing our cable franchise). But... that's basically it?
Ok so you hear from elderly viewers that they care about this content and because you don’t hear from anyone else you assume they don’t exist? Are you really satisfied with that conclusion? Is it possible other listeners just have less time to be involved? Have you reached out to get their thoughts? Why are you so willing to dismiss the elderly?
> So, back to: this is not an existential threat to PBS or NPR. I think people think I'm being glib when I say the Internet is a bigger threat to PBS (as an institution called "PBS") than this funding cut. I'm not being glib.
I do think you are being glib. I don’t care about the comparison you’re making and I think it’s incredibly shallow. By your own estimate this will negatively impact 40% of NPR listeners. The existence of a larger threat is no consolation.
Why do PBS and NPR need to compete with anything? This is a public good, not a competitive business. That’s the entire point.
Does this funding cut somehow help NPR and PBS generate non-linear programming or online content? Of course it doesn’t. This is a bad thing for NPR and PBS even if they continue operating in spite of it.
To be clear, I am not in favor of these cuts, but nothing is preventing state, local or private contributions from keeping these stations on the air.
Somewhat ironically a lot of the extreme cuts (this included) only serve to reinforce the status of major blue state metros as more desirable, since they have more resources available to fill the gaps left by federal austerity.
If the people in the red states aren't willing to pay for it, it would seem that they don't think it's desirable. Capitalism is funny that way.
I get that you're trying to say that the pie is smaller overall, but the principle still applies.
Great! It isn't a problem, then. Again, capitalism is funny that way.
Last time I checked, "society" is a concept defined entirely by the behaviors and preferences of the people within it. You may want society not to be capitalist, but that's your opinion.