Big Bird and Lake Woebegone are under attack. Their fierce attackers? Congress.
If you’ve never heard of these things, odds are you haven’t taken advantage of what some members of our legislature are trying to deprive us of.
Big Bird, a character on the Public Broadcasting Service’s “Sesame Street,” and Lake Woebegone, the backdrop for National Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion” are two of the most beloved icons on public airwaves.
PBS and NPR are government-subsidized entities that air a wide variety of shows, ranging from children’s programming to talk shows featuring Chilean folk music to bipartisan political discussions.
As the 2012 budget is debated in Congress, many programs have come up as potential places to cut cash. PBS and NPR are two that have been targeted by politicians like Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) and Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado).
Lamborn wrote in a congressional newspaper that subsidies for PBS and NPR are no longer necessary because equal alternatives are available in the private market. This argument is interesting but incorrect.
Nickelodeon’s “Dora The Explorer” and PBS’s “Sid The Science Kid” probably have the same educational value, but PBS has an advantage: no commercials because its funding comes exclusively from grants, subsidies and audience donations.
Children see approximately 10,000 advertisements a year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Maybe their commercial-free format is why a national survey by the University of Pennsylvania found that 70 percent of American parents believe the best shows for children are on PBS.
The wide variety of programming on NPR cannot be found on other, private stations. Shows like “Car Talk,” “World of Opera” and “Talk of the Nation” peacefully coexist on public radio. NPR is also commercial-free but runs occasional underwriting spots, which are statements from commercial donors that cannot advocate a product or contain a call to action.
It’s easy to chalk wanting to save PBS and NPR up to sentimental value. I was raised on PBS. In elementary school, my mother used to tell me to be home from my friend’s house “in time for ‘Arthur.’” After I turned 16, “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” were my constant companions in the car.
The importance of NPR and PBS is so much more than my fond childhood memories.
Unencumbered by advertisers, these services can report on virtually anything and can tailor their shows to the broadcast area. They aren’t forced to use product placement in their shows.
To the degree that news organizations can be, NPR and PBS are bias-free. Though the services are frequently mocked as liberal pet projects, a 2005 UCLA study found that PBS’s “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” was the most centrist major news program in America. NPR recently came under fire for insisting that their journalists not attend political rallies unless covering the event for an article, a policy that I think shows great journalistic integrity.
Public radio and television stations provide a wide variety of high-quality programming free from corporate interests and blatant political slants. PBS and NPR must be saved from budget cuts. And they can be, with support from listeners and viewers like you.
— Kate McPherson, University College freshman
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kdbp1213 1 year, 3 months ago
"NPR is also commercial-free but runs occasional underwriting spots"
NPR & PBS need to recruit more underwriters. I enjoy NPR: Talk of the Nation, Car Talk, The Splendid Table, etc. The Federal Goverment needs to reduce spending. Cutting funds to NPR and PBS (and other spending) is necessary. Our national debt is way more important than NPR and PBS's existance.
simba 1 year, 3 months ago
Once we cut things like PBS and NPR, it's a slippery slope until other things are slashed too. Currently, the proposed Texas state budget is saying "Our state debt is way more important than first and second year teachers."
Programs on NPR and PBS have educational value. Speaking about PBS, I remember learning zoology through the Kratt Brothers. I remember learning how to spell "aardvark" from Arthur. Do we expect our children to learn something from Disney sitcoms? Such characters often talk back to their parents with shockingly witty words; are you ready for your children to have smarter insults than you do?
Should we really be cutting educational programming when the education system already sucks?
mustafa 1 year, 3 months ago
"I was raised on PBS. In elementary school, my mother used to tell me to be home from my friend’s house “in time for ‘Arthur.’” After I turned 16, “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” were my constant companions in the car."
I can't believe you have the gall to admit this. What would you and your friends say to a conservative student who admitted that his parents raised him on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News? How credible would that student be?
PBS was started decades ago when liberal ideology was a distinct minority. The reasoning was that because it was a minority opinion, it deserved a break in the name of fairness. Well, it isn't an oppressed minority any longer.
simba 1 year, 2 months ago
Gee, I didn't know Arthur was filled with "liberal ideology". Guess I must be one of them crazy lib'rals now that I'm all grown up.
Oh, wait, I'm not.
And if a student "admitted" that ("admit" sounds like they are embarassed, hmm?), they would have the same right to write a column expressing defending their opinion.