public television

7 Stories

BIPOC Filmmakers Have a Problem With PBS, Ken Burns

Exclusive partnership comes at the expense of diversity, they argue

(Newser) - Almost 140 filmmakers, including some who work with PBS, have signed a letter calling out the public broadcaster for a "systemic failure to fulfill [its] mandate for a diversity of voices." The letter , implying an overemphasis on white creators, notes Ken Burns, a white man, has created about...

PBS Readies Week of Shows on Newtown

Frontline , Nova to reflect on shooting

(Newser) - Starting Feb. 18, PBS will devote a week of shows to the Newtown shooting, it has announced. The "After Newtown" series will include the programs Frontline, Nova, PBS NewsHour, and Washington Week With Gwen Ifill. "PBS is not where you go for breaking news," says the station'...

SpongeBob SquarePants Hurts Children's Attention Spans

 SpongeBob 
 Hurts Kids' 
 Brains 
study says
Sep 12, 2011 8:37 AM CDT

SpongeBob Hurts Kids' Brains

Show weakens their ability to focus, research suggests

(Newser) - He lives in a pineapple under the sea, and apparently he poses a threat to your kid’s attention span. Researchers showed one group of children a nine-minute SpongeBob SquarePants segment; another group watched a clip of the same length of an educational PBS show called Caillou; a third spent...

PBS Is a Dead Man Walking
 PBS Is a Dead Man Walking  
OPINION
Apr 5, 2011 10:24 AM CDT

PBS Is a Dead Man Walking

Forget the battle over NPR—PBS is the one in trouble: Mark Oppenheimer

(Newser) - Between Juan Williams , James O'Keefe , Vivian Schiller , and that whole defunding thing , NPR has had a rough couple of months. But here's the thing, writes Mark Oppenheimer for Slate : NPR is thriving on FM radio while the rest of FM radio withers. Oppenheimer argues that it's time to shift our...

Public Broadcasting Can Afford to Go Private
Public Broadcasting Can Afford to Go Private
Jim DeMint
Mar 4, 2011 1:48 PM CST

Public Broadcasting Can Afford to Go Private

And it's time the broadcasters did just that, writes Sen. Jim DeMint

(Newser) - Republican Sen. Jim DeMint has one simple reason why public broadcasting should go private: Because the presidents of such broadcasting companies "are making more than the president of the United States"—and if PBS can afford to pay its president $632,233 per year, "surely it can...

Pledge Boom Helps Public Stations Ride Out Recession

Loyal public help keep stations going as sponsorships, government funding vanish

(Newser) - Loyal viewers and listeners have stepped up to help their local public broadcasters make it through the recession, the Washington Post reports. Public stations say their appeals to the public are meeting a warm response despite the recession, with donations staying steady and, at some stations, even rising to record...

French Public TV Goes Ad Free; Not All Are Pleased

Critics say Sarkozy plan is gift to corporate competitors

(Newser) - In France last night, television viewers were treated to something they'd never seen before: prime time programming without commercials on the country's five state-run public networks. It's the first reform in Nicolas Sarkozy's proposed "big bang" transformation of France Télévisions, and eventually all advertising will be...

7 Stories