Post AwGfIKWwJMQGICaEtM by charlesmagne1@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by charlesmagne1@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AwGCXIN1j6o3GbjMX2 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:20:27Z
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Conservatives Get the #PBS & #NPR Cuts They’ve Wanted for DecadesThe cuts speak to #Trump’s grip on his party but also to the sweeping changes in #media.They tried under Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush & George W. Bush. Newt Gingrich gave it a go when he controlled the #House, & Bob Dole did, too, when he held power in the #Senate.But for 5 decades, #Republicans failed time & again to choke off #federal #funding for #PublicBroadcasting.#censorship #autocracy https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/business/media/npr-pbs-funding-cuts-republicans.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
(DIR) Post #AwGCfuQi6f2vcfYqPY by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:22:00Z
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Some were afraid of being accused of avicide (for “killing Big Bird” of “Sesame Street”), while others appreciated their local public stations (& the airtime they personally received) —always stopping the party short of turning their threats against #PBS & #NPR into #law.That they have finally been able to do it now, voting on Friday to claw back $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds, on one level speaks to the power of #Trump.#PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGCuRKUaCQliIa6JE by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:24:37Z
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#Trump’s threat to support primary challenges against any #Republicans who might try to block the cuts all but guaranteed they would go through this time.“Republicans who supported public #media for their entire careers are voting to kill it, & there is only one reason: Donald Trump,” said Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, who has been at the center of efforts to protect #PublicMedia for decades. “When Trump sets a loyalty test today, Republicans fall in line.”#NPR #PBS #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGD5IGsbMQSnz4Dc8 by mkoek@mastodon.nl
2025-07-18T14:26:34Z
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@Nonilex that will make it hard for them to distance themselves from him in their next election campaign, if they need to
(DIR) Post #AwGDABuNgb3oWEsXke by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:27:29Z
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Markey argued that #Trump’s moves against #PBS & #NPR were part of the admin’s larger campaign to undermine mainstream #journalism. It is in line, he said, with Trump’s lawsuits against the major broadcast #networks & suggestions that the #FCC might punish their stations over accusations of *liberal bias*.“It’s all part of a plan to intimidate & control the #media & how they cover his presidency,” he said.#PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGDMLsgQxiSvJspmq by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:29:41Z
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But the willingness of congressional #Republicans to vote for a complete cutoff of federal money to #PublicBroadcasting also says a lot about sweeping changes in #media, & views of mainstream #journalism, since #Congress passed the 1967 #law that led to the creation of #PBS & #NPR.The ascendant ideology of the #Trump era is the opposite of the one that spawned the modern public broadcasting system.#censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGDdF9YhWK8yqpawy by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:32:30Z
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Its creation was spurred along by the declaration of Newton N. Minow, chairman of the #FCC during the Kennedy admin, that the competition for ratings & ad dollars had turned TV into a “vast wasteland” of “game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood & thunder.” He beseeched broadcasters to “make a conscientious, good-faith effort to serve the #PublicInterest” with higher-quality fare.#Trump #Republicans #PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGDmMDJoq2pU7w4ki by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:34:23Z
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His speech was followed by an influential study on “#EducationalTelevision” from the Carnegie Corporation. It concluded that the #FederalGovernment should finance a system of stations to produce programming that was “of human interest & importance” without regard for the free-market incentives of ratings or ad revenue. The Johnson admin then did just that, in line with its #GreatSociety program.#Trump #Republicans #PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGDxyAj21mWOaGAfg by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:36:27Z
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No sooner was the system established than the #Nixon White House attacked #PBS for being packed with correspondents & guests who were “anti-administration” or “Kennedy sycophants,” as a Nixon aide, Patrick Buchanan, put it at the time.Nixon was so “disturbed” that PBS had started a new national #news show w/the hosts Robert MacNeil & Sander Vanocur — someone on his enemies list — that he requested “all funds for #PublicBroadcasting be cut immediately,” memos released years later showed.
(DIR) Post #AwGE60nFAaUmqG6xqi by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:37:56Z
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Nixon’s admin didn’t follow through. Instead, it toggled between pressure on the independent Corporation for #PublicBroadcasting to do its bidding & a plan to push more of its budget down to local stations — which, #Nixon aides believed, tended to have more conservative management than the national #networks run out of New York & Washington.#Trump #Republicans #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGEK5sl2ucygAPC9A by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:40:29Z
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But in the years that followed, the strength of local #PublicTelevision & #PublicRadio stations in conservative states was often what saved the #federal #funding.In 1995, #NewtGingrich, then the #House speaker, made one of the most aggressive moves since #Nixon to “zero out” federal support for #PublicMedia before he found it politically untenable.#Trump #Republicans #PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGETiObDsEMjVt2WW by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:42:13Z
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“He was unpleasantly surprised that a lot of conservative politicians from red states resisted,” said Steve Oney, the author of “On Air,” a book on the history of #NPR. “In their communities, their #PublicRadio & #PublicTelevision stations were seen as assets.”Now, though, Oney said, “people get their news from anywhere they want, so there’s not the critical-mass support back in red-state America for #PublicBroadcasting.”#Trump #Republicans #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGEcLAwvMCRK6cC1Y by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:43:45Z
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The explosion in #media sources is what Capitol Hill #Republicans & their allies point to in justifying this year’s rescission package.“With cellphones & internet & all that, I think the ability of people almost any part of the country to access all kinds of information sources is, you know, greater than it’s ever been,” Jeff Miron, a VP of Cato Institute, a libertarian research group, said this week—on none other than #NPR.#Trump #PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGElB6Hkk54gKeCps by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:45:23Z
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#PublicMedia supporters say the commercial forces that made television a “vast wasteland” still exist in an era of #socialmedia algorithms that reward #content that attracts the most likes & shares. That’s rarely the hyperlocal issues or deep policy discussions that are the bread & butter of local public television & radio stations, which have their own locally produced programs that run alongside the national shows of #PBS & #NPR.#Trump #Republicans #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGEoFminCv84xxmMK by Blueteamsherpa@infosec.exchange
2025-07-18T14:45:54Z
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@Nonilex what they want is the abolition of OBJECTIVE sources of news. They don’t want the actions of the administration questioned in a media where they can’t mold a false narrative.
(DIR) Post #AwGErjphWzeC8l1CzY by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-07-18T14:46:33Z
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Bill Goodman, a former longtime host of “Kentucky Tonight” on KET-TV, which broadcasts statewide from Lexington, recalled watching a recent episode of his old show that devoted nearly an entire hour to an in-depth conversation about #Medicaid cuts. The guests engaged in reasoned & intricate arguments from opposite sides of the national debate.“You don’t find that on commercial television,” he said.#Trump #Republicans #PublicBroadcasting #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy
(DIR) Post #AwGFzRUXhumNWiML3Y by darwinwoodka@mastodon.social
2025-07-18T14:59:09Z
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@Nonilex Trump kills everything good in the world
(DIR) Post #AwGGFsCMBEhizOghgO by ChrisHolladay@mastodon.social
2025-07-18T15:02:06Z
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@Nonilex I used to watch that when I lived in Louisville.I really liked the Mystery series....Inspector Morse ... Prime Suspect, Dagliesh, and others.They had tons of shows informing the public
(DIR) Post #AwGOWmUHSw2rpje2ZE by Thebratdragon@mastodon.scot
2025-07-18T16:34:38Z
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@Nonilex from what I know of NPR and PBS I do not understand why they hate it so.
(DIR) Post #AwGYWyxu4ZFK4fEeDQ by Robgbysea@mstdn.social
2025-07-18T18:26:51Z
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@Nonilex One way to combat this form of GOP censorship is to promote inexpensive broadband internet connectivity everywhere—especially in rural areas. Biden got the ball rolling but there’s a lot more that can be done. It’s tricky to tell people in rural areas that it’s wasteful to subsidize their internet access since you’re not telling people to what to watch. The trouble with OTA broadcasts is that it’s easy to monopolize. Hard to do that with internet.
(DIR) Post #AwGfIKWwJMQGICaEtM by charlesmagne1@mastodon.social
2025-07-18T19:42:37Z
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@Nonilex The man has no joy in his life…who does not like Bert..