[Pharmboy]

"...perceived liberal bias..."

That's right...it's only a perception by us wascally conservatives. Nothing going on here folks...move along please.

I expect more from Tierney, he's the only non-socialist reporter for the Times.

[TheRatHunter]

Tucker Carlson?

Tucker Carlson??

That guy's a joke. Probably why PBS is considering him.

[AmericanVictory]

The collapse of the evil empire continues. How they, whom the late Dr. Parkinson referred to as "esoterrorists" are moaning and whining. No more "vanguard of the masses." What a shame.

[grania]

"The biggest problem we've got is the structure we've got,"

Just listen to them....wahhhh, wahhhh, poor PBS.

Their biggest problem is that they only time they had decent programming was during fundraising, when viewers had to put up with 50% of the time spent listening to self-serving egomaniacs trying to get pledges.

Scam's up. Like the article said, there actually are plenty of stations actually providing good programming, without a government dole.

[Terpfen]

Mr. Ibarguen added: "The risk is the tighter your budgets get, the less you can afford to fail. If you can't afford to fail, you can't afford to take risks."

No, the less you can afford to fail, the more risks you should be taking. What else can you do?

[beyond the sea]

One high-level executive at PBS headquarters in Washington, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation for PBS, said new managers at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting had been concerned about a perceived liberal bias at PBS

"Perceived" liberal bias???

Puuhleeeaze!

[shezza]

"The risk is the tighter your budgets get, the less you can afford to fail. If you can't afford to fail, you can't afford to take risks."

Yeah, welcome to the Real World, PBS, where there are real markets and real consumers and real competition and real decisions to be made. Sucks being weaned off the gubmint teat, doesn't it?

[DainBramage]

Just listen to one hour of the weekly "Hispanics today" or whatever segment and you know real quick where they stand. Liberral all the way

I have never heard a single report state the Israeli position fairly or accurately, but always in the end, slanted to favor the occupied lands or the Palestinian refugee, etc.

They never seem to accept that their slanted reporting creates the opinion for some people. In other words,

some people take their word for gospel and agree with them because its PBS, not because they do their own research or follow the news.

Thats why they can survey their listeners and find many who agree with them, they've created the opinion.

If they slanted the other way they would still have close to the same results in most parts of the country, except from a better educated audience.

[blues_guitarist]

"Some public television executives said that running PBS was a thankless job . . ."

Thankless??

No, fellas, that's Worthless!

[stockpirate]

"What used to be a unique thing is now in this competitive environment and has to do whatever it can to survive, which means bending in a way it used to never bend."

Like making shows that people want to watch. Having "Conservitives" on talk shows, not middle of the road Soclialists who you call Conservitive.

Like not spending what you don't have.

[old and tired]

They certainly want to make sure we are providing a balanced schedule," she said. "We believe we are. We check that with the people we report to - our member stations and the American public."

The only time PBS shows decent programming is when they're running a fund drive. Otherwise, it's just liberal crap. If she excluded the stuff they showed during pledge drives, there's no way she could call that network balanced.

Also, where does all the money from Elmo and Clifford paraphanalia go? Doesn't PBS get a kick back on all that kid stuff? If they still want government funding after the way they market that junk to the kids, then that alone should be reason to defund them.

[anniegetyourgun]

DEFUND THE LEFT

Dirty little PBS secret: Elmo, Barney, et al could survive on their own. Why not let 'em?

[snowsislander]

Another excellent candidate for budget cutting.

If the states want to spend money on funding public television (and some do), that's fine. But there is no need at the federal level to fund "public" programming; in these times of a huge federal deficit, this would be a great cut.

[KwasiOwusu]

"The biggest problem we've got is the structure we've got"

No, idiot.
The biggest problem PBS has is its rabid loony left, anti-Americn, anti-Bush, pro-terrorist agenda.
I don't see any reason why even one cent of tax payers' money should be used to subsidize such an nasty, vicious propaganda and disinformation outfit like PBS.
Screw them.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Republicans on the committee believed that a trust fund could pay for socially useful programming.

I don't care if they're Republicans or Democrats. When I hear politicians using taxpayer funds for "socially useful programming" it gives me the creeps

[JohnLongIsland]

we all love elmo
but we all know that even elmo is a big lib

[rod1]

So PBS is content they are balanced because they checked with memeber stations. Presumably like the one in Boston that illegally gave the DEMOCRATIC Party its mailing list--. Oh yeah that is good feedback.

BTW--is Tucker Carlson actually a consevative commentator??? Not that I have heard, when he speaks. It could only be by comparison with Bill Press maybe.

[bobjam]

Watching PBS today is like drinking white zinfandel with liberal arts grad students after visiting the community theater in some state college town. It's for people who want to pretend that they are classy, sophisticated, and above everyone else.

[FormerACLUmember]

LONG past time to defund the malicious, evil ultra-left PBS and NPR.

Here is hoping the Republicans grow a brain. And testicles.

[EricT.]

"...perceived liberal bias..."
"...has to do whatever it can to survive, which means bending in a way it used to never bend."

Liberal bias is first offered as an allegation, then openly admitted to just a couple of sentences later. Does anybody think that PBS is full of anything but Birkenstock-clad leftwing granola grazers?
History channel, Discovery channel, A&E, Nickelodeon, Learning channel, and Animal Planet all do everything that PBS can do... only much better and without tax dollars.

[IronJack]

Corporate underwriters have been less willing to finance PBS programs, which has left the network increasingly dependent on Washington, where Republicans criticize its programming as elitist and liberal.

Translation: PBS can't survive in a free market, so it requires money from socialist ... er, coerced charity ... darn! I mean the public treasury just to survive. Then to compound the offense, the network manages to bite just about every hand that feeds it.

It deserves to die.

And next, we should set our sights on National Public Radio, the audio-only version of the same offenses.