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PBS prexy defends fairness
Topic Started: May 25 2005, 07:29 AM (95 Views)
gvok
Unregistered

source

Quote:
 
PBS prexy defends fairness
Mitchell confirms pubcaster not under political influence

By WILLIAM TRIPLETT

WASHINGTON -- Public broadcasting must -- and will -- remain free of political influence, PBS prexyprexy Pat Mitchell declared Tuesday.
"PBS is not the property of any single political party or activist group or foundation or funder with an agenda of any kind," Mitchell said in a speech at the National Press Club.

"Our editorial standards ensure it, and public opinion polls verify it," she continued. "PBS does not belong to a red or blue or purple constituency, and it does not shrink in the face of political threats.

"PBS has built and maintained a steadfast resolve to never give in to pressures to reflect a political agenda. That resolve is as rock solid today as it has ever been," she asserted.

Some conservatives -- most notably Ken Tomlinson, chairman of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding for PBS -- have criticized public broadcasting as having a liberal bias. Similarly, some liberals have criticized PBS in recent years for allegedly kowtowing to conservatives, as in the network's recent decision not to air an episode of a children's show that featured a lesbian couple.

While not mentioning Tomlinson or any other particular critics, Mitchell was clearly responding to allegations of bias, saying PBS is "that one place where education comes before titillation, where partisanship is checked at the newsroom door and, above all, is a media option that measures success by how many minds we open, how many lives we change, how many ways we strengthen communities and how well we serve this democracy."

Asked specifically after her remarks whether Tomlinson was trying to exert political influence on programming, Mitchell replied that she believes Tomlinson's publicly stated intent, which is to expand PBS' appeal to more viewers and supporters. But she reiterated a point she and others have made recently about polls showing that the majority of PBS viewers perceive public broadcasting as unbiased.

Mitchell also highlighted initiatives meant to help keep PBS bankrolled and competitive. The org has started a foundation to solicit major donations; it secured its first gift recently from the Ford Foundation, which ponied up $10 million. Another project, called the Digital Future Initiative, involves a panel of experts studying ways to develop new types of content for public broadcasting.
Date in print: Wed., May 25, 2005, Los Angeles
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Hoss
Member Avatar
Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
The quality of Nova has certainly gone down hill. I am not in favor of taxpayer support for public broadcasting anyway.
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psyfi
psyfi
gvok
May 25 2005, 07:29 AM
Asked specifically after her remarks whether Tomlinson was trying to exert political influence on programming, Mitchell replied that she believes Tomlinson's publicly stated intent, which is to expand PBS' appeal to more viewers and supporters. But she reiterated a point she and others have made recently about polls showing that the majority of PBS viewers perceive public broadcasting as unbiased.

Polls showing that PBS viewers like the programming are meaningless because if does lean left (and it does), that is who is going to be watching their news shows. I love "Mystery." I wonder if we looked at the political affiliations of those who watch Mystery and those who watch "Now" there might be a difference?
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gvok
Unregistered

I like the News Hour with Jim Leherer.
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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
I have not noticed any bias in public broadcasting, but most conservatives are not in favor of public funding for it so it's an effective strongarm tactic to get them to change thier format to what conservatives would prefer.
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Darthsith
Ensign
How meaningless is this statement?

"I have not noticed any bias in public broadcasting"

Assuming that the person or persons saying it have their own bias, and that the entity they are speaking of has the same bias, of course this person or persons are going to say “I have not noticed any bias in public broadcasting” because to them they will be seeing the truth (according to their own bias) in the broadcasting.
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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
It's pretty meaningless to discuss a media bias period as it's really a matter of opinion and nobody has been able to conclusively prove a bias one way or the other. I was simply giving my personal opinion, which, I believe, is the purpose of this board. :rolleyes:
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Darthsith
Ensign
"It's pretty meaningless to discuss a media bias period as it's really a matter of opinion and nobody has been able to conclusively prove a bias one way or the other. I was simply giving my personal opinion, which, I believe, is the purpose of this board."

I sense conflict where none was intended. I specifically left your name out of my post and used "person or persons" to represent the fact that I was speaking to a point you made not you. I was unaware that people took discussion on this message board so personally - I will refrain form using any of your posts in the future so as not to cause a similar misunderstanding that may cause you to be upset. I apologies.
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Noah,

Didn't Gvok begin a thread on media bias about a decade or so ago? It might be useful to bump that one up as well.
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