Public Broadcasting Makes Airwaves

Re “Saving PBS From the GOP,” Commentary, May 6: Jonathan Chait’s defense of PBS against “Republican hacks” masks the real issue facing public broadcasting. That real issue does not involve what PBS and NPR do, but rather what they are.

Perhaps in the early days of television there was a reason for government to sponsor an outlet that was not under control of one of the three major broadcasting companies. Since that time, the broadcast situation has changed radically.

Alternative viewpoints are readily available through cable, which reaches the great majority of the population. The menu of artistic, news and public affairs programming is rich and varied, thanks to numbers of specialized channels appearing on most cable providers’ outlets.

Public broadcasting has changed also, thanks to local programming and C-SPAN. While these changes were taking place, PBS struggled to find a niche, and is still struggling.

PBS programming tends toward elementary education on the one hand and what is pejoratively described as “elitist” presentations on the other. Neither is satisfactory as a justification for the continued existence of PBS as a publicly supported entity.

Cut PBS loose from its public funding and let it find its own level, if it can.

Richard H. Hill

Rancho Mirage

I’m sure I am not the only one who watches KCET and the other PBS stations almost exclusively, as the commercial station programs are soooo dumb! Therefore, I am willing to increase my PBS payment share when the government gets out of the way.

Dorothy Boberg

Northridge

I would assert that Republicans need PBS and NPR more than they think. Both institutions, especially NPR, practice a mushy, gloves-on kind of balance.

Sure, it has a hint of liberal bias (especially during the morning meetings), but that bias lacks teeth and renders itself ineffective as a vehicle for changing anyone’s opinion.

Further, the PBS and NPR audience for its news content is relatively small and typically consists of the converted liberal elite. To echo Chait’s analogy, PBS and NPR could hurt the Republicans in the same sense that John Kerry and Paris Hilton could become president.

Joe Zefran

Los Angeles

The writer is executive producer of Air America Radio’s media program, “So What Else Is News?”