PBS and you

Democracy functions best when the population has as much varied and valuable information as possible

a National Broadcast system help brings to the national stage issues that other wise may not be covered in private media for variuos reasons

and also help keep Diversity in the national spotlight whether that diversity is Politcal opinion, Culture or science

In the UK the BBC is the powerhouse of information provided as a public service and is solely funded by the Tax payer via a TV TaX"

this is roughly $200 a year per person

in Japan its $255

this set up in the UK and Japan creates a "Dependancy free" media outlet not beholden to and Private interest or Leverage from one group or another

This Dependancy Free outlet is also able to Check the Uncheckable Private media that has an ever growing presence in our lives, on Poltics, and in all facets of our lives.

It is cetralizing ever more and is Owned by a few corporations that have undo influence over all.


it is not a conspiracy, But the Probabaility of A private media to have a "Mobilzation of Bias" that reflects a narrow view is highly probable, and has the ability to steer Poltical dbate, values and agenda setting

thus the radi of that bias will make it way into all programming since corpoarte stucture is relatively Un-democratic and leader driven

In the US only 1 dollar per person per year via Tax money is "given" to PBS

the rest they make up by the soliciting of Foundations, by "Viewers like you", and ever increasingly Corporate Money.

why do we not demand the same instution like the BBC that benfits other countries, surely $200-$250 is not too much to ask?

if we really want to make a dent in "democracy" and that lends it self to such unirversal appeal this one issue would be "it"

Only thing I ever see on PBS is Sesame street, Nova, and informercials. Right now some stupid flying dragon cartoon is on, and after that is the magical schoolbus. And tomorrow they will probably start a 2 day telethon begging for money. And I should pay taxes?

Sure a child's education is key, but isn't that what school is for? If you REALLY want to get a child-friendly educational show then buy the magical schoolbus dvd collection, atleast then you could switch up the episodes... because they show the same fvcking episode every day. Or maybe get the nerdy groundhog in glasses cartoon, can't remember his name, but he goes to school with other animals and gets bullied on and shit.

And that's it, ive never seen any political issues shown on PBS, that's what cspan is for. And for continued education I can flip to the discovery channel. I personally think that PBS should either live off of the 1 dollar per person expense or go find another source of income, because im pretty damn sure it doesn't cost THAT much to run some 80's tv reruns... since I really doubt they are still taping Mr. Roger's Neighborhood or sesame street.

... but maybe im being too harsh, i might miss their morning show teaching yoga followed by the Gazelle informercial, or maybe it'll be the ab scissor this week... exciting!

If it wasn't for PBS and my videos, I'd probably ditch my TV. Ain't much on broadcast or cable worth my time.
Here in the Dallas area, PBS is the only broadcast outlet for most of the political races. They do debates on county sherriff candidates, congressional candidates, state reps, state senators, school board members, all the good stuff that the other guys won't pre-empt "Wheel Of Fortune" to run. Saturday night, they air the good British sit-coms. They show interesting documentaries on the dammedest subjects. They show some excellent programs dealing with Wall Street, business, kid's education, politics, history, art, essentially all the stuff not found on broadcast TV. And in a lot of places in the US, PBS is all they have, because it's not economically feasable for commercial stations to operate there . . .

IMHO, PBS is worth tax $$$. Lots of it, too.

-Tock