8 ms·

PBS has some great stuff, but people don't watch it. Their news program is actually good - if you're someone in the US that likes an evening news program but ge

PBS has some great stuff, but people don't watch it. Their news program is actually good - if you're someone in the US that likes an evening news program but gets exhausted by local stations that don't actually do news beyond warm fuzzies and outright terror, and major outlets that do some news then flog it for 48 hours until their opinions are indistinguishable from their reporting, it's worth checking out.

deleted 4y ago
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tootie 4y ago
PBS and NPR are the same. They are private non-profits whose existence is blessed by Congress and given partial, indirect financial support by government. By contrast, the BBC is full on government agency whose revenue comes from a specific tax.
- JeremyNT 4y ago
  Exactly. It's always really odd to watch an episode of eg NOVA about climate change only to see the underwriting by the Koch foundation. It seems like they aren't selling influence or pulling punches for their benefactors... but would I actually be able to tell if they were?
  - a_w 4y ago
    "Name washing"? Is there such term/phrase? I stopped watching a show on PBS once the API (American Petroleum Institute) began sponsoring it.
javajosh 4y ago
PBS News Hour is a great resource. They now have a YouTube channel with all their content, including live streams. They tend to have a very sensible approach to news. They don't have sponsors to please or audience numbers to hit. They also broadcast considerably less than the 24-hour news networks, which means the ratio of news to opinion is much higher. Their goal seems to be inform, not inflame. I like them.
- acomjean 4y ago
  The local radio station played the PBS news hour even though it’s a tv show. It works that way too. My drive schedule changed so I’m not sure they do anymore. (WGBH Boston)
- riedel 4y ago
  Funny that you say this, because people that are pushing polarization have picked public broadcasting exactly as one of their main targets in Germany (calling it fake news paid by the government) trying to defund it. In Germany public broadcasters for the first time have a budget of that passed 10 billion EUR.
  - javajosh 4y ago
    $10B EUR per year? That's...unglaublich.
    - riedel 4y ago
      And unions demand more: https://m-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/10-milliarden-euro-fuer-ard-und-zdf-gewerkschaft-will-mehr-18772384.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://m-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/1...
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  There are also separate podcast channels, one with full broadcast episodes, one with specific segments. I'll dip into the latter most often for the PBS take on a story of interest.
jbaber 4y ago
They don't advertise it enough, but if you donate something like $6/mo. you get "PBS passport" access on the PBS app that lets you watch years of old PBS stuff. It's like Netflix with way better content.
- Karrot_Kream 4y ago
  Woah I didn't know this. Thanks.

deleted 4y ago

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tootie 4y ago

PBS and NPR are the same. They are private non-profits whose existence is blessed by Congress and given partial, indirect financial support by government. By contrast, the BBC is full on government agency whose revenue comes from a specific tax.

JeremyNT 4y ago
Exactly. It's always really odd to watch an episode of eg NOVA about climate change only to see the underwriting by the Koch foundation. It seems like they aren't selling influence or pulling punches for their benefactors... but would I actually be able to tell if they were?
- a_w 4y ago
  "Name washing"? Is there such term/phrase? I stopped watching a show on PBS once the API (American Petroleum Institute) began sponsoring it.

javajosh 4y ago

PBS News Hour is a great resource. They now have a YouTube channel with all their content, including live streams. They tend to have a very sensible approach to news. They don't have sponsors to please or audience numbers to hit. They also broadcast considerably less than the 24-hour news networks, which means the ratio of news to opinion is much higher. Their goal seems to be inform, not inflame. I like them.

acomjean 4y ago
The local radio station played the PBS news hour even though it’s a tv show. It works that way too. My drive schedule changed so I’m not sure they do anymore. (WGBH Boston)
riedel 4y ago
Funny that you say this, because people that are pushing polarization have picked public broadcasting exactly as one of their main targets in Germany (calling it fake news paid by the government) trying to defund it. In Germany public broadcasters for the first time have a budget of that passed 10 billion EUR.
- javajosh 4y ago
  $10B EUR per year? That's...unglaublich.
  - riedel 4y ago
    And unions demand more: https://m-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/10-milliarden-euro-fuer-ard-und-zdf-gewerkschaft-will-mehr-18772384.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://m-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/1...
dredmorbius 4y ago
There are also separate podcast channels, one with full broadcast episodes, one with specific segments. I'll dip into the latter most often for the PBS take on a story of interest.

jbaber 4y ago

They don't advertise it enough, but if you donate something like $6/mo. you get "PBS passport" access on the PBS app that lets you watch years of old PBS stuff. It's like Netflix with way better content.

Karrot_Kream 4y ago
Woah I didn't know this. Thanks.