National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have no business being supported by taxpayer dollars. Even if there is some worthwhile programming on both public networks, there’s no reason that American corporations and wealthy people can’t step in and fund programming that can compete with cable and satellite offerings.
Public radio and TV were created in the 1950s when many people could only get two or three networks. Given that TV was considered to be a “vast wasteland,” as former FCC chairman Newton Minow described it, the government believed the American people should have more elevating fare to watch.
PBS “serves the American public with programming and services of the highest quality, using media to educate, inspire, entertain and express a variety of perspectives,” according to the network’s Mission and Values.
More often than not, PBS and NPR fail in that mission. Instead of a lot of American pablum-like sitcoms and formulaic police dramas, PBS features British pablum with formulaic police dramas; the only real difference is that the characters speak with British accents.
PBS occasionally rises above the level of banality with excellent science and nature programming and some good children’s programming. Occasionally, it hits a home run with history programs like most “American Experience” episodes. Beyond that, political programming is biased to the point of being humorous, and “culture” programming isn’t much better. […]
— Read More: pjmedia.com
