PBS Stations Should Jump Ship
May 21st, 2009 by Matt
Update 6/17/09: The board has decided on the matter.
The Washington Post just came out with an article stating that the board of directors for PBS is going to vote in their next meeting (June 14-16) if they should start enforcing a 25 year old rule adopted to their By-laws in 1985. The rule is a “fairness-and-balance” policy and states that PBS content should be non-commercial, non-partisan, and non-sectarian.
This means that all member stations would lose PBS affiliation or be forced to cut their programs that don’t meet their to-date un-enforced requirements. It specifically would not allow religious programming. So stations owned by religious organisations such as WLAE and KBYU would particularly have a hard time maintaining PBS status with their current programming. Many more stations (KBDI, WHUT, KLVX, KMBH, to name a few) air religious programs and would certainly be forced to drop them, or lose PBS status.
I’m calling on all PBS affiliates who are airing content that violate PBS By-laws to pre-empt the PBS decision and drop their PBS membership to show PBS that we/you don’t need them. Consider the following reason for dropping your PBS affiliation:
- Your station is currently violating the By-laws.
- Do you really want to be told by the Government what you can/can’t air? (The entire board or directors for CPB is appointed by the President of the United States, and confirmed by the Senate.)
- You shouldn’t be subsidised by tax dollars. Approximately half of funding comes from federal and local tax payers.
- PBS / CPB was created in 1967 to provide diversity from the THREE private networks. This isn’t a problem any more. How many channels do you currently get on your TV? The chartered purpose of PBS has been well out-lived. We don’t need government subsidised television any longer.
- There is no substantial leeway in the Constitution giving government the permission to be involved in the first place.
- And if you say you won’t be able to survive without the government hand-out then so be it. If you can’t survive on your own, then maybe you shouldn’t exist.
Speak your mind on this subject with a comment below.
![[Digg]](http://exitcavehere.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://exitcavehere.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Twitter]](http://exitcavehere.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://exitcavehere.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
I’ve always been confused and a bit bothered by how PBS stations operate. On the one hand, they project this image of being unbiased and not-for-profit, and on the other they sometimes run advertisements (which are cloaked as ‘sponsors messages’) and only present one side of an issue. And when I lived in Utah, I couldn’t understand for the life of me how KBYU was allowed to run so many religiously-affiliated programs. (Note: It didn’t bother me, per se; I just didn’t see how it was even possible in the first place.)
In any event, I’m glad to see this post because it has educated me to how it works. From my way of thinking, I feel this is a black-and-white issue. Either operate according to the adopted guidelines and principles of your organization or get out of the business of being affiliated with those operating beliefs.
Hi. Your site displays incorrectly in Firefox, but content excellent! Thanks for your wise words:)