Mac1958
Diamond Member
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Just out of curiosity, why are we pretending that removing federal funding from PBS would cause it to close down and kill Big Bird?
Is this a game? And no one told me?
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Um... no, probably not.
of course, the question is, what would PBS be without that federal subsidy?
I think that is the question.
A big market like Chicago will still have WTTW and maybe that second and third PBS Station.
But the markets like Northern Wisconsin, where the PBS stations only exist because of that federal subsidy.
If that's the case, if there would be sporadic damage, then I'll bet that smart and reasonable people could come up with some kind of fix, a new approach. The first place I would look is the operational efficiencies of PBS itself. Next I would look at the non-federal funding mechanisms already in place that could be improved upon. Next I'd look at beefing up the culture of support that already exists at a smaller level.
One of our problems is that we tend to look at things statically, not dynamically. A minus B does not necessarily have to equal C. I'll bet we could make PBS independent and that it would survive just fine. Both sides of this issue need to calm down a bit, take it out of the realm of politics, and do some reasoning cooperatively. Get some intelligent and passionate people to think it through without engaging in the standard slap-fighting.
Which would also be very helpful in approximately 500 of the other significant problems this country is facing.
Meh, that's just me, babbling.
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