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Are there any good billionaires out there who can fund NPR&PBS until things return to normal?

Good billionaire might be an oxymoron

At this point I've got to be optimistic that there is at least one out there who grew up on Sesame Street and now watches Frontline, Nova, Masterpiece Theatre or any of Ken Burns' documentaries.

They should turn that flag upside down

Could states possibly step in to help? I dont know of its possible of course, but I know in Canada provinces fund their own public broadcasting?

Stations in big markets like Boston already do get some local funding and the majority of their funding is through donations anyway. They will be adversely affected but they won’t shutdown completely. What will be shuttered is hundreds of rural PBS stations.

Stations that can literally be the only source of local news in times of emergency, particularly adverse weather events.

I am so damn angry! Growing up we had four channels, WXXI/PBS was one. The fact that Republicans said it was their un-Americanism that they should be defunded is a crock of... By un-American they meant we can't have people learn, experience new things and be educated, because educated people *con't

are too hard to control. Who's f-ing un-American?? 😡🤬😡

Fuckers.

WGBH = WGBH-TV (channel 2) primary PBS member TV station in Boston, MA en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGBH-TV

and they are an NPR station too. Dual licensee. www.wgbh.org

WGBH & WBUR will be just fine. The amount of foundational support they get from the Boston is outstanding. It’s the public stations in less educated areas that will need to be shuttered. People need to contribute, although I did halt my membership after their atrocious coverage of the Gaza genocide.

WGBH and WBUR will survive, but both stations have had major cuts recently in staffing and programming. They are not immune from funding cuts, even if the threat is not quite as existential. WBUR in particular has done vital reporting on ICE and that kind of work is at risk.

Yes, personally I rather give my $ to other news outlets, but I personally knew the head fundraising guy at WBUR a few years ago and they would routinely get checks for $300k, $500k, etc. during their fun drives. The elitist stereotype around NPR didn’t appear out of thin air.

I didn't tell you where to donate, but acting as if WBUR and WGBH are immune is incorrect. In today's funding environment, the competition for philanthropic dollars is more competitive than ever, so even in a city like Boston those $300,000 checks will be harder to come by.

Yes, I was merely making making the point that as an individual who contributes to about 4-5 media organizations, in my opinion there others far more worthy of my dollars than local NPR stations.

#WGBH is where I fondly watched #PBS shows in the 80’s. 3, 2, 1 Contact was a favorite science show. Mr Roger’s and Sesame Street taught life lessons. #PBS helped to educate and entertain. #WGBH came to mind with the sad news of Trumps government defunding our country’s #publicnews #publicradio

Same!! Best station ever.

The Bloodhound Gang! 💙

You know it! They’re there on the double! 😆

It's a sign of a strong country that local public-funded stations have to beg for money.

Eventually the plan is to only have government controlled media. This is straight out of the fascist playbook. We are coming full circle from slavery under England, to freedom under democracy, and now to slavery under our own government. This is the plan. Just ask Stephen Miller.

He’s told us. He wants to be treated like Kim Jong-un.

Indeed, he did. And the people voted for him anyway. Americans punishing themselves, and their children and their grandchildren.

yup. and all because hate got the better of them. Future generations will not thank them for it.

Yes, that's the plan, and it's not far off. tRump's efforts with TikTok are proof of that. He wants to fund it through the govt. and have it as a govt. run social media platform. Fascism anyone?

Yes, this is their plan, which is part and parcel to the greater objective of creating and implementing a fascist state. As you know, it's textbook authoritarianism.

Good for them

WGBH was a part of my family life, growing up (I moved in 1983). I was 5 years old when Sesame St debuted & watched it every day. My father watched the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler & the BSO under Seiji Ozawa. My mother watched Masterpiece Theater with Alistair Cooke. Defending PBS is cowardly.

We would also watch the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler on #WGBH. It seems our families were watching some of the same exceptional tv shows and specials.

Right on! I didn't have enough room to mention Nova & Nature. And those specials were awesome!

Defunding not defending.

Yeah. I think they got enuff $$$$ in that town for that station. MIT? Harvard? Billionaires? Anti up capitalists.

The whole fucking point is to have a free, open, honest, truthful, adult voice without corporate OR government interference. You're watching the governemnt interference part right now. Look to CBS for the capitalist interference part.

Last time I checked Universities are not a political or governmental entity. And if you think NPR is without Neoliberal bias. U don’t know what Neoliberalism is and/or you don’t think critically.

Universities are businesses, you know that, don't be disingenuous. Especially the private institutions you named. And yes, NPR has a Neoliberal bias, because again, capitalism puts a heavy thumb on NPR funding. Koch Foundation alone pushed them to the right and to pro-capitalism. They are now hollow

NPR already gets a load of $$$ from corporations. Endowments and Individuals with a decided political bent (Neoliberal)

Ok. Fine. But government funding is compromising their reportage. They’re like America, first, unapologetically with a hearty “har-har” from millionaire Steve Inskeep. They need to diversify their revenue stream. And would getting $ from MIT mean they wouldn’t report critically on MIT?

Speech under a capitalist system is only as powerful as your funding and the source of funding will always carry inherent bias. That's why a neutral pool of "collective money" paid to build, maintain and broadcast TV/Radio, no strings attached, is a good idea. Perhaps under a non-partisan agency?

Excellent points. I just see MIT & Harvard and others able to handle criticism- when education is your stock & trade you don’t need to squelch voices not in lock-step. In fact it betters your brand if you actively promote dissension. At Syracuse the Daily Orange was easily the best news in town.

I'm curious if there was ever any negative press thrown at Harvard by the press in the same way as the government is currently pushing.

I don’t know. The lawsuit claiming Harvard puts quotas on Chinese students was big…

That was a sucessful coordinated politcal attack on Affirmative Action, not from the press. And SCOTUS made a reverse racism ruling that fails reason and logic. Harvard used to be 100% white only, then law changed, now it's very diverse. But they are free to make it 100% white again if they want.

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WHBH is a treasure. I grew up watching it since the ZOOM days. (i'm Bernadette!)

tragic

Too sad, but good for them for putting it out there for EVERYONE to see. I think that is where I 1st encountered Sesame Street.



Wasn’t WGBH the PBS station that originated the show Zoom?

❤️ “Zoom” growing up. In fact, I still sing address zip codes in my head to the tune in which they sang theirs at the end of every show. 😆

🗣️ 🎶 Boston, Mass OHHH two OOOne threee fouuuur - send it to Zoom! 🎶

02134 send it to Zoom~ Even us Canadians know it!

My kid wonders why I sing her zipcode (it’s one digit different than ZOOM’s).

that 02134 definitely lives rent free in my head

Yes

That's us!

Just donated. I hope people will inundate their pulic TV and radio stations with donations. Let's "self fund" our way around trump's attempt to destroy yet another valuable public good.

WGBH in particular has put out more quality content than every streamer combined. It's the kind of content you want your population consuming. It's the kind of content that creates a better society. Repubs aren't just fascists, they're morons who want to spread their brand of stupid around.

These are the same people who made it a capital crime to read their own bible in English for centuries. Religion needs ignorance.

bsky.app/profile/city...

Old plotline en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rem...

I grew up in Texas watching Sesame Street, Electric Company and Zoom. Zoom was created at WGBH. I now happily live in Massachusetts. You're not going anywhere WGBH. We've got your back. ❤️

Not wrong

New Yankee Workshop ftw

Masterpiece Theater Masterpiece Mystery American Experience NOVA Half of all the great cooking shows… WGBH Boston has inspired more American geniuses than all the adderall in manhattan, los angeles, and san francisco combined.

They are not fascists. Stop throwing words around as if they don’t have meaning.

See, this is what happens when you defund PBS.

Oh, it compares to fascist rhetoric? Then it must be fascism. Never mind that they have no intention of, or capability to, overthrow the Constitution. Never mind that the military would never allow them to cancel elections. So it’s a fascism that will be *voted* away. A very weird fascism indeed.

Ask Miami when their midterm election is taking place.

My mum used to support PBS from Ontario, Canada. She lived through WW2 in England. This would make her rage. Me too.

Great sign! Woke Gives Back Honor (sorry I’m not very creative but I love the shows they produce!)

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The only decent captioning service!

It's a shame they didn't fight it harder by canceling regularly scheduled programming and instead urge people to contact their senators. Who knows what difference it could have made.

Man that's tragic. I've enjoyed so much programming from WGBH in the course of my lifetime, and I've lived it in Oklahoma. Far reaching effects.

For non-Boston folks [like myself] wondering "why do I know that station/those letters" I bet you've seen this bumper at the end of some quality programming when you were younger! www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWy...

Daily.

I've lived in the Chicago market my whole life, and can hear the jingle when I see that logo.

Z O O M Box 350 Boston Mass 02134 Sung, of course. WGBH produced many childhood memories.

he finally got to raze Sesame St x.com/AntiTrumpCan...

Everything we trust about the government is being defunded to pay for things that bring about terror.

Exactly

Another sad chapter in US history. Is there no place for truth tellers? A place where a diversity of voices can be heard? Where the goal of the program isn't to sell ads?

So many great shows came from here. 😢

I rely on, and support, NPR and PBS, and am not planning on changing it. That said, if they hadn't tried so hard to prove they weren't biased they happily participated in the normalization of Trump and his fascist agenda, they might not have found themselves in this position.

bsky.app/profile/navy...

More of this. PBS should start a weekly program: "How to spot a fascist" ....

Can we still support them? What businesses and foundations will be supporting them?

☹️😞

is this NPR?

Both

yes. Boston public television (and radio)

thank you

Sad!

So sad. My favorite channels: KOCI 10, KCET 6, create tv 811, NHK 812, world 814, PBS 38 & 39. I get at least 7 PBS stations on my cable. And I listen to public radio stations when in the car.

Not really related, but my wife and I celebrated our engagement at the Stockyard restaurant in the foreground.

Eliminate all Republicans

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That's my station. 🥺 I grew up with it, and still love it. From Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers to Ken Burns docs, Antiques Roadshow, POV, etc. So many excellent, educational and entertaining options. I hope they somehow get enough funding to keep their programming going.

Long live 💔

Donate!

I'm fully disabled and have to live on government benefits I subsist below the poverty line Otherwise, yes

this man is a monster - can you not see this? what a nation - on hot rails... Only BOC can help us now... youtu.be/IBwSuqsH_sI?...

They should go on a full fledged republican bashing campaign. The way Fox News bashes Democrats 24/7.

Seriously. No more govt funding, more more tip-toeing. Become the liberal monster they’ve always been accused of! Educate people and tell the truth about things.

No more……

The only gotcha is their corporate donors.

True. What percentage of cpb funding comes from corporate donors? It’s hard to find. A lot comes from public donations and foundations/trusts.

@universalhub.com

Took my son with autism there once because he loved the logo.

Just as good as when thy put the Arthur fist up

👊

The sky is not falling.

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Let’s send donations; cancel cbs and paramount + send the $ to fund PBS instead. It’s for the public, keep it on air.

CPT is off the air

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And despite being defunded they are still covering for republicans. Just this morning I heard them referring to Susan Collins as a “Moderate”! In what context is she moderate? Hard to feel much sympathy for NPR.

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I’m sure some liberal capital holder will pick up the slack

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Terrible. And, I can't help but resent GBH president Susan Goldberg, who forced a wasteful, senseless move of WCAI from its original location to a new $$ space several miles away, even though the village offered to let CAI remain in its original space for FREE. www.mvtimes.com/2025/03/11/c...

So sorry

Support PBS and NPR!

Republican Cancel Culture in full effect.

Like so much of public media, it's "too clever by half" marketing. Is it defunded *because* it was local and trusted? If defunded is so bad, does that mean local and trusted are bad things, too. Very confusing.

I think every NPR and PBS station should go black for 5 minutes every hour, randomly, then come back quick statement that 'this is your future'

They've been killing it. They had this up a month ago.

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My WGBH for 40 yrs!

I do think each valuable service being cut needs to put out signs telling people why there are cuts and how it impacts their daily lives.

I used to watch that when we lived in New England. Big mistake. They are going to learn you don't want to mess with some cities. Like Boston. Among many other things, Boston is the epicenter of Liberty in the US. I know you guys know that. And it can't be erased. Boston Strong.

I agree, I look forward to that area of the country getting wicked pissed! 😉

😭 One of the three stations I annually support, and yes, today I gave an extra $15.71 . If we can get 70 million to o donate $15.71 we will negate the rescission. Yes I know there’s a lot of worthy causes.

Censoring what Americans are permitted to choose as their preferred media, is a clanging bell alarm that Freedom of the Press is threatened to be made a barely remembered cliche. A president who demands it is unfit for office. A Congress that supports it, is insidious.

Like pissing on Julia Child's grave.

Bateman has a point. We knew who and what Trump was.

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NYT: The Impact of Defunding NPR and PBS Nice job on this 2-minute video showing how the funding breaks out and what'll be most affected. Created by @benmullin.bsky.social @byclairehogan.bsky.social hogan.bsky.social, Leila Medina, and Laura Salaberry [If there's a paywall, lmk and I'll gift it.]

I get “page not found” when I try this link. Did they remove the video?

idk what happened. bad cut-n-paste by me? but then the preview usually wouldn't have come through. Maybe bsky isn't reading it correctly in the preview? I really don't know! Try this link? I'll leave the URL bare. www.nytimes.com/video/us/pol...

It worked! Thank you! Who knows why the other link didn’t work. I just thought there was a chance they took it down. A lot of media bowing to pressure nowadays and all. (Kudos to the ones who aren’t!)

Excellent! :) Well, I think something like this is vetted pretty carefully before it goes up. Yes, they can be pressured. But I think that all happens in the pre-game maneuvering. :)

NYT also did a useful map showing state-by-state how public TV and radio stations are affected. Here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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