PBS takes a hit

The big news coming out of the last day is how PBS took a $500,000 hit in the budgetary process. Terry Woster of the Argus Leader filed this early report on the whole thing including a mention of it:
The budget includes a $500,000 cut in funding for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Democrats in each house tried unsuccessfully to have that money restored. A Republican on the budget committee said even with the cut, the SDPB budget will have a balance at the end of next year of $475,000.
PBS has been a bone of contention for years among many politicans. Why? Well for one, their kids programming is a merchandising bonanza. Check out how many familiar faces are here at pbskids.org.

Arthur, Barney, the Bernstain Bears, Clifford, Dragon Tales, Buster, Sesame Street, Teletubbies. For most adults, it's hard to figure out why Government needs to subsidize THEM. When faced with the merchandising machines pushing these characters, sometimes we parents feel that we'd like a subsidy when faced with purchasing those darn toys at Christmas.

Now don't get me wrong. My family has supported public broadcasting for years. My Dad's a friend of public broadcasting. (I'm merely an acquaintance).

The big thing to watch here is whether or not this ends up becoming a political issue this election year in South Dakota with people protesting against the decision and others saying "it's about time." Will "PBS forever" become a rallying cry during debates? Will there even be a SD PBS debate series this year?

Who knows. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned.

Comments

No no said…
I guess you guys can substitute what you can learn from a Frontline doc with a rant on Fox News! Hey, who needs facts when you have opinions.
Anonymous said…
Could this be because SDPB provides total coverage of the legislature (http://www.sdpb.org/Statehouse/?I'm sure many people in Pierre would love to go back to the days where they could say whatever they wanted without their constituents finding out.

P.S. SDPB is not the same as PBS. For one thing, it has radio, internet and educational elements, besides the television station.
Anonymous said…
I'd like anyone (that includes you PP) to show me where the money from all the stuffed Barneys is in the SDPB budget. I don't know who gets those royalities or how much they are on your average 12 inch tall Barney, but I bet SDPB doesn't see any of it.

Maybe you should become a Friend of South Dakota Public Broadcasting. In fact I'll throw out a challenge. I'll increase my current membership by whatever amount you donate.
Anonymous said…
If more people listened to public broadcasting rather than fox news (or any other garbage on tv), our society would be more intelligent, more informed, and less polarized.
Douglas said…
With the legislature spending over $3 Billion, they might have found a bit more for SDPB. I say that even if the twits in charge have banned my erudite comments from their noon forum and routinely give time to wingnut right loons.

Republicans in the SD legislature apparently think the mushroom treatment helps them with their barefoot and pregnant approach to women and their endorsement of Rapist Rights. I guess if I were that regressive, I might like to pull the dark ages cover over my head.

Years ago, they apparently demanded that SDPB never show the electronic voting boards..wouldn't want their constituents to know until after the session is over how they actually vote.

PP are really sure you want to keep supporting these guys? Now and then you seem to make a lot of sense.
Anonymous said…
Let's have seperation of media and state.

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