FAIR's exposé of PBS's prominent news and public affairs shows demonstrated that public television is failing to fulfill its mission–to "provide a voice for groups in the community that may otherwise be unheard," to serve as "a forum for controversy and debate," and broadcast programs that "help us see America whole, in all its diversity."
Now, which PBS canceled without explanation and replaced with Need to Know (co-hosted by corporate media fixture Jon Meacham), lived up to that mission admirably. Need to Know does not. Join FAIR in telling PBS to bring back Now: Sign the petition today.
About Julie Hollar
[...] Tell PBS: Bring Back Now! [...]
This is a really pointless campaign in my opinion. PBS has all but lost it's credibility as a "public" media outlet. To put such emphasis on a single program could easily do more overall harm to the public's perception of PBS as a "public" media outlet that gives way to alternative and progressive views. Which they seldom do any more, and instead further confuse a viewership who believes they are getting that alternative and progressive view. Frankly, in the midst of PBS, they could not air a program that I would trust whether they called it NOW or not. I'm not sure I could trust them having their previous hosts onboard. Maybe if Bill Moyer did the prologue each week to reassert the program's sincerity…
This exactly what was intended by the Reagan regime when they cut funding for PBS, necessitating corporate support and allowing corporate commercials on what was entirely non-commercial TV. This – including ending the fairness doctrine, allowing the foreigner Murdoch to buy Fox, and facilitation of consolidation of all media through the end of regulation – was a coordinated and successful assault on all forms of balance in all media.
American media was always – despite whining claims of the right to the contrary – slanted right. Left-slanted programs did occasionally make it on to paid TV, but were prone to abrupt cancellation at the height of their popularity. Offhand, That Was The Week That Was, and The Smothers Brother's Comedy Hour come to mind, but there are dozens of others, like Rock and Roll programs Shindig and Hullabaloo, or popular comedy series like WKRP in Cincinnati (which was shuffled around in time slots until the ratings dropped, then canceled. This is a favorite tactic for programs too popular to cancel outright, but that the "suits" don't like.)
So PBS is supposed to be an alternative. I never minded watching Buckley on Firing Line, The McLaughlin Group, or even that twit, Tucker Carlson. But I want some balance.