Danny Tyree’s recent rallying cry of “Conservatives, Let’s Save PBS!” was spot on. His column recognized that public broadcasting serves all Americans, regardless of their political persuasion. Indeed, PBS traces its roots to wealthy American industrialist Andrew Carnegie — who insisted on “excellence” as his core conservative value.
It was the steel-baron-turned-philanthropist who made it possible for the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television to study and recommend guidelines for what has become our Public Broadcasting System today.
Even so, there are those who have called to cut funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and would have PBS move to a commercial TV business model in the belief that the marketplace would support its educational enterprise. This is a bad idea.
Forced to take commercials, Sesame Street would become just another toy marketer, like every children’s program on commercial television. Discovery Channel, which had intended to run PBS-style documentaries 24/7, quickly switched to shows like Ice Road Truckers thanks to commercial pressure. And as another high-profile conservative, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently noted, “There is no history on the History Channel.”
PBS is a highly successful public-private partnership that generates $5 in non-federal funding for every $1 of federal investment. No more respected a conservative than President Ronald Reagan blessed this public-private partnership model of public broadcasting in a conversation with filmmaker Ken Burns about his masterpiece, The Civil War. “Government should provide the spark,” President Reagan said, “and the private sector should do the rest.”
At Arizona PBS, the private sector known as “viewers like you” provide approximately 70 percent of the annual operating budget. Other private funders, such as local corporate sponsors and foundations, give another 15 percent. The remaining 15 percent comes from the annual Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant — bringing some of our federal tax dollars back to Arizona to serve Arizonans.
But Eight provides our community with much more than TV. What many Arizonans aren’t aware of is the breadth of its community involvement. An average of 250,000 Arizona children watch Eight’s high-quality educational programming each day. Based on that programming, we offer more than 20,000 classroom-ready digital resources to Arizona teachers. To date, one-in-10 Arizona educators take advantage of these tools, with more teachers signing up daily. Arizona teachers also have participated in over 330,000 hours of their own online learning through PBS TeacherLine. Visit azpbs.org/asset to find out more.
Additionally, you will find Eight’s Educational Outreach team out and about in the community. Our early literacy workshops work with preschoolers, their families, caregivers and educators to prepare these children to be ready the first day of school. Arizona PBS offers STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) educational programs for K-12 students. In fact, last year our educational presentations, conferences and workshops reached over 13,000 educators and early childhood care providers throughout Arizona.
Another priority of Eight is partnering with local groups and nonprofits so we can provide more services to our viewers. In 2011, for example, Eight co-hosted 11 community events with partners ranging from TedX to Arizona Highways and the Arizona Science Center.
If you really want to see all that Eight offers Arizonans, visit our website at azpbs.org. Then take a few minutes to surf the free resources and programs available with just a few clicks.
It’s a public-private partnership that works on many levels. I think Arizonans across the political spectrum would agree, no matter what their politics, Eight provides tremendous value to everyone throughout Arizona.
Mindy Korth is chairwoman of the community advisory board for Eight, Arizona PBS.
wdgnas posted at 6:51 am on Tue, Sep 4, 2012.
arizona willie: high speed rail has already been but shot down by certain politicos because it would create jobs.
after reading your explanation why cutting defense spending would be bad, and i happen to agree with you that without a comprehensive program to replace those jobs, is the military industrial complex "too big to fail"?
Leon Ceniceros posted at 3:34 pm on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
I noticed that the Guest Commentor, Ms. Korth did not mention the two most Left-Wing Liberal PBS-KAET (tax-payer supported) TV Programs...."HORIZON" and "HORIZONTE".
She only mentioned the mildly Socialist, politically correct, ..."KIDDIE SHOWS".
I would suggest that Ms. Korth, turn her TV on or record, "HORIZON" at 5:30 pm (kicked off it's historic, "prime", 7:00pm slot (just after the "NEWS HOUR", which is becoming more and more Left-Wing Liberal in it's content too) and "HORIZONTE" at 7:30pm (just shows how much clout the Democrat-Liberal Pro-Illegal Alien Hispanic Group has...they didn't have to move.....lol)..........I AM SURE THAT AFTER WATCHING THE GOVERNOR JAN BREWER BASHING, THE SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO BASHING, THE RUSSELL PEARCE BASHING AND THE ANTI-SB 1070, PRO-ILLEGAL ALIEN STANCE OF THE MODERATOR, THE GUESTS AND THE REPORTERS THAT..........MS. KORTH WILL BE "WHISTLING A DIFFERENT TUNE" ABOUT HOW....."CONSERVATIVE"...PBS-KAET IS....IN THE FUTURE.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:34 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
mrconservative: only liberals are allowed to have a picture below their user name. [beam]
Actually, you just have to edit your profile and there is a place to upload a pic or choose a ready made avatar/
mrconservative posted at 8:58 pm on Fri, Aug 31, 2012.
What I mean is this -
"the problem of cutting defense spending is that is such a large part of our economy."
So true!
mrconservative posted at 8:57 pm on Fri, Aug 31, 2012.
Wow, Willie. That thing you said about the millitary actially makes sense. Good for you!
By the way, can you tell me how to put a picture below my username? I'd like to do it, but I really don't know how.
Arizona Willie posted at 1:16 pm on Fri, Aug 31, 2012.
Engaged Voter, the problem of cutting defense spending is that is such a large part of our economy.
Defense spending cuts would produce large layoffs.
We have large stockpiles of weapons that we either have to shoot at someone or sell to someone. That's why we have a war every few years, we have to reduce our stockpiles and make room for new weapons coming off the assembly line.the politicians are already setting the stage. Since Afghanistan is going to be winding down, we are going to have a lot of unemployed soldiers with no one to attack, and a lot of weapons coming off the assembly line. The problem is what are we going to do with all those weapons and all thoset idle soldiers? I would propose that we have a national bullet train project. Factories producing tanks and aircraft could easily be converted to making train cars and engines.
A national bullet train project from New York City to Los Angeles run through major cities along the way such as Chicago,Denver, and Las Vegas would create tens of thousands of jobs and do something good for our country.other than some national project like that I see no way to realistically make cuts in defense spending without doing severe damage to the economy.
Engaged Voter posted at 11:39 am on Fri, Aug 31, 2012.
Yeah chatmandu002, let's cut domestic programs to the bone.
Nevermind that we outspend the next 26 countries combined on wasteful military "defense" (no one can seem to answer who exactly we are defending against, but given the money we are throwing at it, it must be space aliens. LOL).
chatmandu002 posted at 11:17 am on Fri, Aug 31, 2012.
Cut til it hurts then cut some more. And yes that includes PBS.