PBS hit by claims it has liberal agenda

AP ^ | 6/26/5 | JENNIFER C. KERR

[blackbart.223]

"And it would be fun to see Charlie Rose panhandling alongside Bill Moyers. It's all they know how to do anyway."

Well put. May they be reduced to pushing stolen shopping carts and picking up beer cans.

[GloriaJane]

PBS has had an openly lib bias in their programing for years. Anyone who turns it on figures that out after just a few minutes of watching it. It's laughable that they try to say they're not.

How they can claim with a straight face to be fair and balanced is beyond me. LOL!!

[Lancey Howard]

Scumbag Bill Moyers has apparently been spending his retirement DRUNK.
He paid a fine and was ordered to take a drunk driving class. (I don't know why - - he already knows how to drive drunk.)

[TGOGary]

Just like Ted Kennedy!

[Quick1]

I really don't agree with subsidizing cable. It's welfare for the cable companies, and it's welfare for the people getting cable.

However, I like the fact that PBS isn't simply an educational programming channel either. The fact that they don't have to rely on advertising and sponsorships means that they can take some chances on programming, and ideally it should cost less for a show to get themselves on PBS as compared to another channel. Ideally, this means that we would get more creative ideas out there.

Of course, you can always argue that the free market will promote good creative ideas, but considering the glut of reality TV we have right now...

[justche]

PBS says the proposed cuts would have severely impacted "Sesame Street," "Clifford," "Between the Lions" and other popular children's shows.

here's the thing I don't understand --I called Sesame Street Workshop because there were so many repeats. They only make less than 26 new shows a year now. There's only one month of new shows a year. So if they are selling cd's and tapes, plus all the products, how is it they need to be publicly funded at all?

They must get their budgeting plans from school administrators.

[Jeff Gordon]

I just took a look at one of local PBS station's programming for the next few hours. It sure looks like a liberal agenda to me.


1:30
am

Castro
(A KQED Production)
"The Castro" chronicles the saga of how a quiet, working-class San Francisco neighborhood of European immigrants gave way to a new community that has become an international symbol of gay liberation. Combining interviews with witnesses to the transformation, archival materials, and contemporary footage, the program captures the spirit and vitality of the Castro district and sheds light on why the rather modest Eureka Valley neighborhood became the world's first "gay hometown."
duration: 1:26:23 CC STEREO TVPG-L



3:00
am

Flowers from the Heartland
On February 12, 2004 the City and County of San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples. Just days after the first wedding was performed, the flowers started arriving. Flowers sent from the very heart of America, the Midwest. Flowers sent with love and support and addressed simply "To Any Loving Couple." Experience again the joy of that magical month when over 4000 gay and lesbian couples were united in matrimony, and meet some of the people from the Heartland who together with thousands of others across the country and around the world sent Flowers from the Heartland. By Peter Daulton.
duration: 24:55 CC STEREO TVG

[R. Scott]

[Conservatrix]

I have the entire collection of Blackadder on VHS and Mr.Bean on DVD. I love Rowan Atkinson.

I liked Ballykissangel when it was on. The even had Monty Python on regularly some years ago-- now I have some of my own and can rent them at Blockbuster....

Out here in central PA, we have had a regular Sat night PBS routine for years-- This Old House (where rich yuppies get to have their beautiful old homes redone by PBS for free while they have like 0-1 kids to complicate their luxury), Lawrence Welk (a staple for the provincial PA Dutch music lover) and a series of britcoms (the only ones worth watching that they keep on are Keep Up Appearances and As Time Goes By.... the rest are just stupid....

they keep asking for money, for what? So they can produce a useless "Central PA" magazine which says absoutely nothing and fund public school programs (and musn't forget the large executive salaries of the brainchilds running the palce).

I would really like to the the budget for our area, how much money they are getting in goes to other things besides acutal programming ("you are helping pay for programming like this" goes the shpiel).

[Conservatrix]

They DO sell advertising. Sort of.

When I was a kid, there was NO advertising (late '60's early 70's) on PBS. None.

Then they started mentioning "sponsors"-- names of bigwig corportations that get tax write-offs for supporting PBS and charitable trusts that get tax write-offs for supporting PBS.

THEN they started with sort-of ads-- naming the sponsor and a little something about their company..

NOW they are read ads. You hear at least 10-15 seconds or up to 30 seconds about Porter Cable or TJ Waterhouse or whatever. They are COMMERCIALS..

The only difference is that they are paid for indirectly, by donations from the companies to PBS, who in turn give them nice little commericals for their "gift".

[Conservatrix]

I like Red Green too.

[BlackbirdSST]

This is behind the curve, considering that Congress just authorized restoring $100 mil in funding to PBS. The ever reliable Republican Congress that is. Blackbird.

[Bear_Slayer]

The very few times I tried, all I heard about was gay rights - it didn't matter what the program was supposed to be about, that's what it turned into.

I worked for a contractor that listened to NPR. One episode was a review of heavily slanted conservative opinions in MSM and NPR "What should we do about it?"

Please! I almost ran the skil-saw through the radio.

[Bear_Slayer]

Pee BS

[expatguy]

Oh I love this!

I show no mercy when it comes to exposing liberal bias.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[longtermmemmory]

AP circling the waggons... note:"claims"

"alegations"


All BS, PBS IS LEFT WING. PBS IS SLANTED.

There is ZERO reason to fund PBS. Shows like sesamee street are funded independently of gov money with all the donation groveling they do.

[WhiteGuy]

I agree,

However while the republican majority in congress has been promising an end to out-of-control government waste for ten years now, they have shown themselves to be far worse than their so-called counterparts on the other side of the aisle.

As a matter of fact I believe that most politicians favor empowering the "other party" in an effort to keep the general population divided. Meanwhile both parties compromise on how to best fleece the people.

[RedBeaconNY]

...well, if the boot fits, wear it. PBS is a liberal cesspit.

[Eepsy]

May I reccommend www.deepdiscountdvd.com for all your Telly boxset needs? They even have a 20% off sale around Thanksgiving.

[unbalanced but fair]

I love Red Green too. He's probably done more for the sale of duct tape than anyone. But shows such as Sesame Street, Clifford, et. and especially now Mr. Rogers have such huge archives that I don't see a need to produce very many if any new shows. Toddlers certainly won't know the difference and what has changed about the alphabet etc.? Our local station reruns all kinds of shows constantly.

And as for support, just check out the underwriters list. That's why you see those "commercials" before and after each program. If they're going to advertise and sell affiliated products, and there are tons of those{check out the toy department}, they can cough up more money. PBS is publicly owned in name only. I would be curious to see an accounting of all monies.