I used to love NPR several decades ago as a place to hear classical music and listen to interesting shows like Talk of the Nation Science Friday. I even volunteered as a phone bank fundraiser once over 40 years ago. But I've LONG since stopped listening to them due to increasingly biased programs. Public broadcasting should only be supported by the public by choice, not by tax money. Great article Sayer, I hope it is read far and wide.
They need to include the American Library Assn as well, as they are behind the books kids read in school and what gets set up at public libraries and who trains and hire librarians.
"It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes. Behind the barricade there may be much that is noble and heroic. But what is there behind the leading-article but prejudice, stupidity, cant, and twaddle? And when these four are joined together they make a terrible force, and constitute the new authority."
- Oscar Wills Wilde - (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900)
I'm so sick of years of biased reporting by public radio/PBS. I agree with everything you shared Sayer Ji. Thank you for your courage and clarity. Robin Davidson Santa Barbara
I can't love this enough Sayer Ji. Listening to NPR and PBS would make my stomach churn, the amount of detritus that came out of those transmissions. Yes this is a new dawning, the rise of freedom of speech and proper refutation if there are objections to the speech content. Much respect to you for carrying the torch!
Start reading https://bravebooks.us/ and books by Connor Boyack series The Tuttle Twins! Kevin Sorbo and Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains created Brave Books to compete with the WOKE Scholastic Books that schools usually buy from. Parents need to buy and read these two series' with their kids since schools won't do it just to teach normalcy!
I say so what! Maybe they are somewhat but I'd rather kids learn from them than from a Muslim or from a WOKE liberal American teaching indiscriminate sex practices!
But that just replaces one bias with another. I know what you mean though, but surely there are books that stick to simple common sense and reality rather than mythology!
Neither set of books has anything to do with Mythology! Though I remember studying the Greek gods in school or in books and I always thought it was interesting. I also loved the Newberry award winners except the latest one, for 2025, which has been supposedly taken over by WOKENESS!
I have witnessed the steady influence of propaganda, within this once proud institution of open information. The first public radio broadcast came from Wisconsin, basically informing farmers of the best practices known at the time, by researchers at the UW. But, these days you hear the incessant creep of one sided dogma, from NPR. I no longer trust nor listen to any programming not created from a Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast.
While I agree that media coverage of vaccine questions has been horrible, stupid and usually biased, defunding public media in the slash-and-burn manner that this administration has been using everywhere else is an equally horrible solution. This is more than just about vaccines. Local public news and radio stations use a much larger share of the allocated federal money than does the national parent organization, so it is the local stations that will be the most hurt. Local stations provide information for developing emergency situations, educational content for kids as well as adults, local news including notification of local events, history, and entertainment. With the cannibalization and closing of so many private local news outlets, there are many geographical areas that have no other good local news source beyond public media, and rarely is anything else, if there at all, free. Local stations are independent; they choose which national programs to air. Get involved with local programming if you don't like what they are airing.
I have been watching the vaccine debate for over 20 years. The understanding of science by both much of the news media and elected officials is abysmal. "Anti-vaxer" is as stupid a term as the implied MAGA meanings of "WOKE" and "DEI". (As Joy Reid likes to ask, "Which part of DEI don't you like - diversity, equity or inclusion?") While there are some people against all vaccines, there are many more who are concerned about vaccine safety but who will balance that against possible benefits and sometimes, based on one's personal risk, opt for a particular vaccine. As my generally vaccine-adverse friend told me once, when you work with horses, you should take the tetanus vaccine because the odds that you will step on a nail covered in horse dung are high, and the odds that that nail carries tetanus is also high, and tetanus is a horrible and often fatal disease.
The point I am getting to here is that we need GOOD and INFORMED discussion about issues such as vaccines. Defunding public media is as misguided as defunding police departments because of bad behavior, with the result that criminal activity is likely to increase. Instead, both need to be reformed, and reformation takes getting the right people involved and in some cases may even take more, not less, funding in the short run, but with intelligent, honest and transparent oversight. Such oversight may actually cut costs in the long run as actual waste and fraud are rooted out, but cutting costs haphazardly is likely to result in a much poorer product for both the short and long term. If there is not enough funding for high-quality, in-depth reporting, then the result will be poor-quality, superficial reporting, and less of everything, which in my decades of watching news media, seems to be the trend we have been moving toward in too many media companies already, especially private ones.
If you have been defamed and financially hurt by public media, you can always sue them. Since Trump wants to curtail free speech (as evidenced by selectively arresting and deporting nonviolent protesters whose views he doesn't like and suing the Associated Press for continuing to call the Gulf of Mexico by its historic and internationally-accepted name), maybe he'll even put up some money for your lawsuit - or get one of his billionaire friends to do so.
Let’s just defund everything, ban books, censor people from disagreeing, put them I. Jail in El Salvador if we don’t like what they are saying and darn let’s get all those kids shows defunded and British dramas and nature shows.. we all are going to be just working more hours to pay for food and rent.. can’t watch tv any way.
Anything fake, fraudulent and corrupt should be defunded, if that includes books and British dramas and nature shows, so be it. Let's depict truth, not brainwashing!
“I would like your response to those who say you are using false, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to promote your business.” THAT IS A NONSENSE STATEMENT showing complete faks ignorance of the truth... just blatant lies which really need consequences if we are to have a truly progressive society.
So the concern is will the transform this media or throw the baby out with the bath water. I hadnt realized NPR and PBS had been financed and led by big pharma and Gates foundation. They are both prime examples of right wing extremeists with a private for profit agenda. They should not be influencing these media channels. But a nbeutral government should. I dont expect Trump is acting in the publics best interest. He's acting in his own best interests.
I disagree with your conclusion. I don't think that public funds should support any media; there is no way to ensure balanced coverage, nor is it the job of the federal government to fund the media.
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has had profound negative consequences for American media. Mainstream media (MSM) exhibits a historic decline in journalistic integrity, often prioritizing bias over ethics. Articles, presented as factual, frequently resemble opinion pieces, riddled with logical fallacies. Broadcast pundits engage in slander, while writers commit libel. Interviewers use loaded, question-begging prompts, further eroding trust. As a result, public confidence in the media has reached its lowest point in 50 years. The Fourth Estate, once a pillar of democracy, now serves vested interests, undermining our republic.
The question is: how do we restore a truly free press?
The proposed Comprehensive Media Accountability and Transparency Act (MATA) is a starting point. This draft, open for public comment and refinement, invites collaboration to craft effective legislation. However, addressing the crisis of a compromised press demands bold, comprehensive solutions.
I don't see why the public needs anything from the government least of all more legislation. We need to get out of the hand-holding business and go our own way together, by collaboration.
I used to love NPR several decades ago as a place to hear classical music and listen to interesting shows like Talk of the Nation Science Friday. I even volunteered as a phone bank fundraiser once over 40 years ago. But I've LONG since stopped listening to them due to increasingly biased programs. Public broadcasting should only be supported by the public by choice, not by tax money. Great article Sayer, I hope it is read far and wide.
They need to include the American Library Assn as well, as they are behind the books kids read in school and what gets set up at public libraries and who trains and hire librarians.
agreed and thank you!
Oscar Wilde on journalism and media
"It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes. Behind the barricade there may be much that is noble and heroic. But what is there behind the leading-article but prejudice, stupidity, cant, and twaddle? And when these four are joined together they make a terrible force, and constitute the new authority."
- Oscar Wills Wilde - (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900)
Oscar Wilde was way ahead of his time.
I'm so sick of years of biased reporting by public radio/PBS. I agree with everything you shared Sayer Ji. Thank you for your courage and clarity. Robin Davidson Santa Barbara
I can't love this enough Sayer Ji. Listening to NPR and PBS would make my stomach churn, the amount of detritus that came out of those transmissions. Yes this is a new dawning, the rise of freedom of speech and proper refutation if there are objections to the speech content. Much respect to you for carrying the torch!
Start reading https://bravebooks.us/ and books by Connor Boyack series The Tuttle Twins! Kevin Sorbo and Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains created Brave Books to compete with the WOKE Scholastic Books that schools usually buy from. Parents need to buy and read these two series' with their kids since schools won't do it just to teach normalcy!
The trouble with those books are they are religious.
I say so what! Maybe they are somewhat but I'd rather kids learn from them than from a Muslim or from a WOKE liberal American teaching indiscriminate sex practices!
But that just replaces one bias with another. I know what you mean though, but surely there are books that stick to simple common sense and reality rather than mythology!
Neither set of books has anything to do with Mythology! Though I remember studying the Greek gods in school or in books and I always thought it was interesting. I also loved the Newberry award winners except the latest one, for 2025, which has been supposedly taken over by WOKENESS!
I have witnessed the steady influence of propaganda, within this once proud institution of open information. The first public radio broadcast came from Wisconsin, basically informing farmers of the best practices known at the time, by researchers at the UW. But, these days you hear the incessant creep of one sided dogma, from NPR. I no longer trust nor listen to any programming not created from a Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast.
And who decides what the truth is?
While I agree that media coverage of vaccine questions has been horrible, stupid and usually biased, defunding public media in the slash-and-burn manner that this administration has been using everywhere else is an equally horrible solution. This is more than just about vaccines. Local public news and radio stations use a much larger share of the allocated federal money than does the national parent organization, so it is the local stations that will be the most hurt. Local stations provide information for developing emergency situations, educational content for kids as well as adults, local news including notification of local events, history, and entertainment. With the cannibalization and closing of so many private local news outlets, there are many geographical areas that have no other good local news source beyond public media, and rarely is anything else, if there at all, free. Local stations are independent; they choose which national programs to air. Get involved with local programming if you don't like what they are airing.
I have been watching the vaccine debate for over 20 years. The understanding of science by both much of the news media and elected officials is abysmal. "Anti-vaxer" is as stupid a term as the implied MAGA meanings of "WOKE" and "DEI". (As Joy Reid likes to ask, "Which part of DEI don't you like - diversity, equity or inclusion?") While there are some people against all vaccines, there are many more who are concerned about vaccine safety but who will balance that against possible benefits and sometimes, based on one's personal risk, opt for a particular vaccine. As my generally vaccine-adverse friend told me once, when you work with horses, you should take the tetanus vaccine because the odds that you will step on a nail covered in horse dung are high, and the odds that that nail carries tetanus is also high, and tetanus is a horrible and often fatal disease.
The point I am getting to here is that we need GOOD and INFORMED discussion about issues such as vaccines. Defunding public media is as misguided as defunding police departments because of bad behavior, with the result that criminal activity is likely to increase. Instead, both need to be reformed, and reformation takes getting the right people involved and in some cases may even take more, not less, funding in the short run, but with intelligent, honest and transparent oversight. Such oversight may actually cut costs in the long run as actual waste and fraud are rooted out, but cutting costs haphazardly is likely to result in a much poorer product for both the short and long term. If there is not enough funding for high-quality, in-depth reporting, then the result will be poor-quality, superficial reporting, and less of everything, which in my decades of watching news media, seems to be the trend we have been moving toward in too many media companies already, especially private ones.
If you have been defamed and financially hurt by public media, you can always sue them. Since Trump wants to curtail free speech (as evidenced by selectively arresting and deporting nonviolent protesters whose views he doesn't like and suing the Associated Press for continuing to call the Gulf of Mexico by its historic and internationally-accepted name), maybe he'll even put up some money for your lawsuit - or get one of his billionaire friends to do so.
Let’s just defund everything, ban books, censor people from disagreeing, put them I. Jail in El Salvador if we don’t like what they are saying and darn let’s get all those kids shows defunded and British dramas and nature shows.. we all are going to be just working more hours to pay for food and rent.. can’t watch tv any way.
Anything fake, fraudulent and corrupt should be defunded, if that includes books and British dramas and nature shows, so be it. Let's depict truth, not brainwashing!
“I would like your response to those who say you are using false, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to promote your business.” THAT IS A NONSENSE STATEMENT showing complete faks ignorance of the truth... just blatant lies which really need consequences if we are to have a truly progressive society.
So the concern is will the transform this media or throw the baby out with the bath water. I hadnt realized NPR and PBS had been financed and led by big pharma and Gates foundation. They are both prime examples of right wing extremeists with a private for profit agenda. They should not be influencing these media channels. But a nbeutral government should. I dont expect Trump is acting in the publics best interest. He's acting in his own best interests.
Good article, Sayer. Linking as usual @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
Have followed Green Med Info for years, and now your Substack as well!!
I agree with the defunding of PBS and NPR.
I disagree with your conclusion. I don't think that public funds should support any media; there is no way to ensure balanced coverage, nor is it the job of the federal government to fund the media.
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has had profound negative consequences for American media. Mainstream media (MSM) exhibits a historic decline in journalistic integrity, often prioritizing bias over ethics. Articles, presented as factual, frequently resemble opinion pieces, riddled with logical fallacies. Broadcast pundits engage in slander, while writers commit libel. Interviewers use loaded, question-begging prompts, further eroding trust. As a result, public confidence in the media has reached its lowest point in 50 years. The Fourth Estate, once a pillar of democracy, now serves vested interests, undermining our republic.
The question is: how do we restore a truly free press?
The proposed Comprehensive Media Accountability and Transparency Act (MATA) is a starting point. This draft, open for public comment and refinement, invites collaboration to craft effective legislation. However, addressing the crisis of a compromised press demands bold, comprehensive solutions.
[Link to draft: https://forum.policiesforpeople.com/t/comprehensive-media-accountability-and-transparency-act-mata/21620/1]
I don't see why the public needs anything from the government least of all more legislation. We need to get out of the hand-holding business and go our own way together, by collaboration.
You raise a valid point as the systems are antiquated and no longer serve the common good. Societies can form new systems to supplant the old.