Der Maga -Krieg gegen PBS war nie um Geld | Der neueste GOP -Druck, öffentliche Medien zu entfernen, spart nicht viel Geld. Aber es wird arme und ländliche Kinder benachteiligen

Article highlights:

>Conservatives have been gunning for PBS since it began broadcasting in 1970, but they haven’t had the political means to succeed until now.
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>Trump’s executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media” on May 1 followed March’s House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency hearing, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. In that televised sideshow, Greene accused PBS of “sexualizing and grooming children.” As alleged proof, she held up a large glamour shot of a drag performer, Lil Miss Hot Mess, who was featured in an April 2021 segment for “Let’s Learn,” an educational show produced by the WNET group and the New York City Department of Education.
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>That segment only aired locally, but the photo made for an effective prop in this anti-inclusion political environment targeting the queer community, especially transgender people. Most of the hearing involved Greene and her GOP allies on the subcommittee denouncing PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger and NPR’s president and CEO Katherine Maher for allegedly peddling political bias.
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>The subcommittee’s Democrats countered with jokes about Elmo and other “Sesame Street” characters. Only Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., referenced the popular PBS Kids series “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” with a purpose that laid bare the hypocrisy of his colleagues‘ allegations.
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>In questioning Mike Gonzalez, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow supporting the far-right’s defunding calls, it became obvious that he has no idea what type of programming airs on PBS Kids or, for that matter, PBS in general.
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>Anyone watching this travesty play out on Capitol Hill knows that these actions have nothing to do with protecting or nurturing kids. It’s about punishing the poor to score political points with the wealthy. A ProPublica report titled “The Trump Administration’s War on Children” lists the many ways this administration is failing children. Among them: Federal employees working for Child Protective Services have been dismissed. Proposed Medicaid cuts would cut access to health care in schools and foster care for lower and middle-income families.
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>In April, the administration withheld nearly $1 billion in federal grants to Head Start centers nationwide, a year-over-year decline of 37%, resulting in layoffs and regional office closures.
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>The MAGA attacks on public media are part of this assault. Public radio and TV level the informational playing field, and to an administration devoted to controlling what Americans learn and think, that is a problem.
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>Conservatives have accused PBS and NPR of liberal bias in their news and documentary coverage since Richard Nixon was in office. But they seem to take a special pleasure in using PBS’ children’s programming as a political wedge.
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>If PBS were denied taxpayer money, wouldn’t cable programming on Nick Jr., Disney, and content streaming services like Netflix, Paramount+ and HBO Max fill their absence? Aren’t toddlers turning to influencers like Ms. Rachel on YouTube more than, say, “Alma’s Way” on PBS?
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>Besides, isn’t HBO producing “Sesame Street” these days? (In short, no.)
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>These presumptions are continuations of the decades-old insistence that public media should be privatized. They also reveal a general lack of knowledge about how public media works, to say nothing of the examples playing out in the news that illustrate why billionaire media owners cannot be trusted to refrain from interfering with their outlets’ editorial decisions.
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>The CPB is independent of the government, established by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 as a private, nonprofit corporation. It does not produce programming or own, operate, or control any public broadcasting stations, its mission states. This is to ensure the editorial independence of member stations and shield PBS, NPR, and local producing stations like WGBH and WNET from political pressure.
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>U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss slowed down Trump’s effort to assert his control over the CPB on Wednesday, informing its board to proceed with business as usual until he renders a decision.
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>Trump, meanwhile, has yet to submit his formal request to Congress to cancel the federal funds meant for public broadcasting. That means there’s still an opportunity for the public to lobby their representatives and contribute to their local stations.
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>At least one Republican Senator from the home state of “Molly of Denali” intends to continue supporting public media. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, shared a letter supporting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on her website and in a regional newspaper. Alaska’s local stations received $12 million from CPB last year, Murkowski said, accounting for anywhere from 30-70 percent of their overall budgets, and equating to roughly 0.00018 percent of all federal spending.
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>“Not only would a large portion of Alaska communities lose their local programming, but warning systems for natural disasters, power outages, boil water advisories, and other alerts would be severely hampered,” she wrote. “What may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska.”

The importance of public broadcasting as a piece of community infrastructure cannot be overstated, and it’s pretty clear that those in the administration who are working to tear down this infrastructure have no idea how it works or even what they do. They are looking to destroy something of value that they have no understanding of, and this seems to be a consistent thread throughout this administration’s actions over the past months.

No shit, lame we have to explain this to people that will probably not listen at all anyway

Yup. It’s part of the conservatives‘ war on education. I remember also when Christian nationalists tried to cancel Arthur because Arthur dared show Mr. Rayburn getting married to his partner. Conservatives hate the idea of showing perspectives that depict LGBTQIA+ people just being ourselves, because they want to demonize LGBTQIA+ people and color us bad. This is what all this is about. They’re trying to basically bring back the Hays Code in action.

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They wont have much time for tv anyway, when they are working in the mines and fields.

They are just trying to keep young people stupid so that they can push them around and lie to them. It’s amazing that these older people can’t tell what these thirty-year olds are trying to do now.

I hate these people so much

Marginalize the marginalized