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Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet. Not that a national PBS would necessarily be like that, but it has happened in

Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet. Not that a national PBS would necessarily be like that, but it has happened in many other countries, and it's a valid concern. Edit: there are a number of other reasons as well, including the difficulty of coordinating national broadcasts at the time that PBS was founded. Major networks were once also primarily driven by local affiliates, with some differences in local programming. The US is a big place.

TurkishPoptart 7y ago
>Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet. Not if you frame it like that, no.
heavyset_go 7y ago
> Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet This exists[1], but it isn't PBS. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America
- paganel 7y ago
  There's also Radio Free Europe [1], but I don't think that's what the OP had in mind, as neither BoA nor Radio Free Europe broadcast in the US afaik. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Libert...
- iamnothere 7y ago
  It's not aimed at a domestic audience, and until recently this was enforced by law. VOA is also explicitly propaganda, at least under Bernays's more neutral definition of propaganda: it is intended to influence foreign populations to view the US in a favorable light, using what VOA considers to be the most accurate point of view. Propaganda isn't just Soviet posters describing the abundant harvest. Any widely broadcast messages with an explicit goal to influence populations, even if the messages are accurate, is propaganda. The recasting of propaganda as "evil lies" (or "fake news") has poisoned the well when it comes to discussion of accurate propaganda, which still exists and is in use every day.

TurkishPoptart 7y ago

>Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet. Not if you frame it like that, no.

heavyset_go 7y ago

> Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet This exists[1], but it isn't PBS. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

paganel 7y ago
There's also Radio Free Europe [1], but I don't think that's what the OP had in mind, as neither BoA nor Radio Free Europe broadcast in the US afaik. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Libert...
iamnothere 7y ago
It's not aimed at a domestic audience, and until recently this was enforced by law. VOA is also explicitly propaganda, at least under Bernays's more neutral definition of propaganda: it is intended to influence foreign populations to view the US in a favorable light, using what VOA considers to be the most accurate point of view. Propaganda isn't just Soviet posters describing the abundant harvest. Any widely broadcast messages with an explicit goal to influence populations, even if the messages are accurate, is propaganda. The recasting of propaganda as "evil lies" (or "fake news") has poisoned the well when it comes to discussion of accurate propaganda, which still exists and is in use every day.