George Will Surprise! Public Broadcasting Is Useless, Like an Appendix, So Defund It #Political
In recent years, Washington Post columnist George Will has not been our favorite. I called him "Jennifer Rubin with shorter hair." But he still pens a conservative column from time to time, clearly upsetting left-wing Post subscribers with a Sunday column suggesting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is useless, and should be defunded.
CPB is like the human appendix: vestigial, purposeless and susceptible to unhealthy episodes. In 2025, it is a cultural redundancy whose remaining rationale is, amusingly, that government should subsidize its programing because so few want it. Commercial broadcasters cater to the vulgar multitude, so the refined few are left out, orphans with nothing to do but pout and reread Proust.
Government funding of CPB’s narrowcasting for its largely affluent constituency resembles agriculture subsidies for agribusiness. And as a critic has said — a defender of government-supported broadcasting — the “N” in NPR stands not for “National” but for “Niche.”
If Republicans mean a syllable of what they say about pruning federal functions, they will begin with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They will ask: If not here, where? And if not now, when?
Below that is a generated summary of comments launched below the piece:
The comments overwhelmingly support the continued funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), arguing that NPR and PBS provide essential, high-quality, and unbiased programming that is not available elsewhere.
That's false on at least two points: "public" broadcasting isn't one bit unbiased, and it sounds a lot like TV networks elsewhere, like MSNBC or CNN.
Will expanded on the notion that PBS and NPR make programming for liberal elites:
The federal subsidy is about 15 percent of the funding for all public broadcasting. If the viewers, listeners and others who volunteer the other 85 percent enjoy the CPB’s offerings as much as they say, surely they will provide the other 15 percent. They should know that government’s share is a regressive transfer of wealth: The average American household income is less than that of the average income of PBS viewers and listeners to the CPB’s NPR.
According to Market Enginuity, an advertising firm, “If one were to combine the average statistics for PBS viewers on a national level, they would likely find a married homeowning woman who is in her 30s or 40s,” who “takes at least 3 vacations each year” and “holds a post-graduate degree.” PBS viewers are more likely than viewers of commercial television to be “highly educated, white-collar professionals.” And: “The PBS audience is 44 percent more likely to hold a doctorate degree.” Hence, says Market Enginuity, “the value of advertising on PBS.”
This is a little intriguing since one reason for the tonsorial Jennifer Rubin insult was that Will granted an interview to NPR in 2020 which surely delighted upscale liberal NPR listeners as he suggested the Republicans should be routed in the election.
from Newsbusters - Welcome to NewsBusters, a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), America’s leading media watchdog in documenting, exposing Follow News Busters
Red Pill Pharma A psychological pharmaceutical that unlocks logic and reason offering a second chance at individualism.
Sourced by the Find us on telegram. Real News for Patriots of the United States of America. We share content that re-affirms our soulful connection to light, Truth, and the Constitutional God given rights of Freedom and Liberty.
No comments