Fact: The MPBN radio network has more listeners than any station in Maine.
I’m biased. I grew up watching MPBN. One of my favorites when I was young was “Square One.” I especially enjoyed the repeating series at the end of each episode called, “Mathnet,” a Dragnet parody.
I don’t watch PBS as much now but I often listen to public radio. I do not yet have kids but if I do, I want MPBN to be there for them as it was for me.
Call me elitist, but I do not want my children to have to sit through ad after ad designed specifically to sell my child sugary cereal, the latest trendy, fashionable toy straight out of the most recent Hollywood blockbuster, or some must-have Christmas present.
I want them to watch Sesame Street, commercial free. But critics of MPBN take the view that if it can’t be supported through private ad sales like other broadcasters it doesn’t deserve to exist. All good things sell ads, apparently.
They completely miss the point. MPBN is great because it isn’t a platform for advertisements. It is a platform for education, learning, news, and culture. All private stations exist solely for one reason: to sell ads. Ultimately, they do not care about anything else.
MPBN, on the other hand, is us. It isn’t run by an out of state corporation. It isn’t run by a media mogul. It isn’t run by Disney. It is run by the people of the State of Maine. Therefore, it ultimately cares about us, the viewers, more than any other form of broadcasting.
I am not trashing private companies like Disney. They make some great entertainment. But they also brought us Britney Spears and multitudes of other oversexed young starlets who, perhaps, are not the best role models. Controversy and short skirts move sales.
MPBN would never do that. It brings us Ken Burns, Nova, and Maine Things Considered. It is by us, for us. It is not pushing whatever psychological button it can find (sex, violence, and the desire of all children beyond a certain age to simply be more like an adult) to entice your child into wanting the latest, newest, hottest widget.
Many say that MPBN has a biased political viewpoint. I disagree. Let us not forget that most of these same people would say that all major media outlets other than Fox News and a few chosen brethren are biased. They would likely add the Courts, people who teach at our schools and colleges, and most scientific leaders to their long, long list of things exhibiting a “liberal slant.” Not too long ago these were all institutions that made America great. Now, in folk mythology at least, they are a blight.
I see a pattern in their list. What do the Courts, academia, public school teachers, and MPBN all have in common? They are all institutions that, in their ideal form, are not meant to be bought and sold. They are designed for purposes beyond the simple earning of money.
But in the new mythology money is the ultimate decider of good. If public schools cannot compete for tuition they must be lacking. If scientists cannot find private grants their research must not be important. And if a public broadcasting network cannot whore itself out to the people who market to your children, it must be killed.
Public broadcasting does great good. People say that it is no longer necessary now that anyone can get hundreds of channels sent to their homes to match every desired flavor of entertainment.
I see the opposite. What I find remarkable about those hundreds of radio and television outlets is how similar they all are to each other. The same loud, argumentative morning talk hosts. The same newscast teasers: “Your life is in utter peril. To find out why, please stick around through this word from our sponsor.” The same shows about bubbly teenagers with upbeat movies, must-have soundtracks, and fashion lines at Wal-Mart; and then the same sad slow deterioration of a child star sucked into a slow motion public spiral of scandal and addiction. The same tendencies for sensationalism and melodrama over reflection and analysis.
Our hundreds of stations are far too similar to each other because they all exist for one identical, all-consuming purpose: sales.
MPBN is different. It is the only thing we have that is different. It is needed and should be supported.
It is different. Unlike “for profit” stations, gifts are entitled to charitable deduction treatment. Likewise, the tax impact is less than for others. I’m wondering if those advantages are enough.
There is an argument that non-profit status is enough support. But the lack of other non-profit ad-free educational stations suggests to me that the government support does make up a necessary component.
Another thing that rubs me and, surely, many others the wrong way is the arrogance. MPBN has been around and partially government funded for a long time. And the Governor gets in there with 38% and after a few months decides to zero it out. And, to make it doubly worse, he did not run on this. He didn’t say to voters that MPBN was on the chopping block anytime that I heard. So it is arrogance and a bit of bait and switch. I understand that no politician can map out every decision ahead of time but, come on, he is going to change a beloved, long lasting Maine institution in a way that he never told voters about based on the mandate of 38%? It is unreal.
I am hopeful, though, that the required 2/3rds majority vote for the budget is going to mean this proposal goes away. It is difficult to judge LePage’s plans, however. When I’m trying to figure out the likelihood of something passing I usually assume in my math that an executive politician doesn’t like to propose things unless they have a good chance of passing, but that rule of thumb doesn’t seem to apply much to LePage.
Probably better off supporting your local community access station.
This post says it all. Tremendous job.
I take issue with only one point. Your straw man about Fox News, etc. evades the facts about public broadcasting. While the content of MPBN’s news coverage is balanced, their topic selection does appeal to an elite liberal mindset. Just look at their sponsors.
Other than that, though, you nailed it. Keep up the good work.
Just for my own edification, what topics must one be interested in to qualify as an “elite liberal”? Follow-up question, does using the word “edification” qualify one as an elite? I have to go polish my Jaguar, but I’ll check in later.
LOL. Well, I don’t listen to MPBN every single day, but the best example I can think of is their coverage of the “War on Terror.” They paid a lot more attention to the issue of torture and the abuses at Guantanamo than other media outlets. On immigration, they are more likely to find an illegal immigrant and profile his/her experiences than they are to analyze the statistical impact of immigration on state budgets. Many of their on-air personalities – Robert Siegal, Ira Glass, Peter Sagal – enunciate in a punctilious way that makes me suspect very few midwestern farmers would want to listen to them. I’ve never heard anyone with a southern accent on NPR unless they’re witty, like Tom Bodett. If all that is not proof enough, why would Chevrolet choose to feature its new electric car, the Volt, for its sponsorship spot on NPR if they were not expecting it to reach an environmentally-conscious hippie-type audience?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go polish my Prius.
Wait a minute, what about Red Green? Surely, he’s not an elite liberal!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go polish my Naran.
NPR listeners who still polish their own cars?
Must be a Maine thing.
Ruben, I almost lost my yerba mate through my nose at your comment. Kudos, good sir! :)
I have to go polish my Naran.
Is that anything like “shaking hands with the unemployed?”
God, lets hope so. Although I’m sure Auntie Mabel would be horrified to be lumped in with those lazy, good fur nuthin’ unemployed who just don’t want to work.
I think I get it.
Punctilious enunciation + Yale + Wealthy family = Elite Liberal William F. Buckley?
that can’t be right…..
Deep southern drawl + State Univ. & Marines + Working-class family = Teabagger Conservative James Carville?
My label-maker is obviously malfunctioning. I think if I tried to plug in Trump’s components it would blow up.
Your label maker is malfunctioning because: a) You committed a straw man fallacy by inserting stereotypes into my argument (Yale vs state university; working class vs wealthy) that were not there to begin with, and b) Any argument based on stereotypes, as mine was, is not significantly weakened by one or two counter-examples.
But keep tinkering with it; it’ll work eventually.
I’ve never heard James Carville interviewed on NPR, have you?
Some apologies are in order.
First, I was perhaps a little too clever. I don’t actually have a label maker that takes random information and prints out obnoxious titles that most times are used by people who can’t explain them properly. It was a metaphor and I am sorry for the confusion. Perhaps you were picturing the Bat-Cave computer that was used effectively to solve many of Gotham’s bizarre crimes committed in the years 66′ to 68′. I do not have such a computer. I believe they retired it in 69′ when it was used to find the Zodiac killer and it spit out “Hurricane Camille”. Even if I did own such a device I would probably just use it to find out who stole my iPod dock from work last year.
Second, thank you for defining ‘straw man fallacy’ immediately following your use of the term. If I were to play devil’s advocate and take a position that I did not necessarily agree with, just for the sake of argument, I would say “You make an astute point!”.
Third. just ten minutes ago my 1 1/2 year old son came around the corner saying “yucky” and put a piece of dog poop on the recliner. The “yucky”, unfortunately, was referring to the taste in his mouth. Not pertinent, but I can’t just ignore that giant elephant in the room. Although a year from now I might be sad that PBS is no longer around to air ‘Dinosaur Train’ and teach the boy about poop. http://youtu.be/zW39BWeqCiI
Fourth, who’s James Carville?
And lastly, I mistakenly thought this was an article discussing state funding for MPBN. We’re talking about NPR?
*embarrassed*
Now all my pro-Elmo and Dr. Seuss arguments are rendered mute. Not to mention Charlie Rose, John McLaughlin, Tavis Smiley and Jim Glassman.
Could someone please direct me to the appropriate message board?