As a pretty rigid libertarian, I am fundamentally against a lot of federal government funded/run programs, but I think public broadcasting as it was initially set up is a good idea - in that it was intended to be a modularly regulated educational outlet.
However, as production costs have decreased and federal funding and corporate sponsorship has grown over the past two decades it has become yet another liberal media outlet.
The PBS funding is pulled as opposed to pushed. If they want the funding they get it.
When I was getting my master's at Emerson I took a public broadcasting management class which was taught by Robert Hilliard - an FDR liberal (the guy's probably 80 years old) who ran PBS under 4 presidents from JFK to Ford.
Hilliard is a very intelligent man who was open to conservative views (which in this class of 40 included me and one more person), I found the class to be very informative and eye opening, in that this man who really helped to shape PBS & CPB was vocal about his opinions.
In one discussion about a liberal bias, I said, part of the reason why PBS is losing a lot of viewers to cable outlets such as Discovery and History (the #1 problem facing PBS) is because a majority of people who fall into the demographic that watches PBS (intelligent educated people over 35) have different political views than those being increasing espoused by the PBS talking heads and creative programming , and frankly are instinctually insulted when they feel they are being lectured, and don't like seeing their tax dollars going to an institution that is biased.
Hilliard agreed it was biased, but said it was the duty of any institution like PBS to speak to the needs of the underclass.
Trust me; this view is shared by the majority of people working at WGBH and the Pacifica stations which produce almost all of the programming for PBS.
Obviously they are scared; all liberals get scared when their intellectual monopolies are challenged.
The issue to them is not about equal time with conservatives, it is the fact that the introduction of opposing views to a relative safe haven will disrupt the PBS fallacy expressed by Hilliard.
Look, if PBS keeps losing viewer ship, then they will not be able to justify their budgets. If I were a liberal, I would acquiesce here, it’s either accept the ½ hour of conservative talking heads or lose the one stage where you can show documentaries about transgendered paraplegic illegal immigrants.
There was no PBS until LBJ.