By Jamie Edmonds, El Cerrito

It's been years since I could feel all warm and fuzzy about PBS: for a very long time I've perceived most of the national and local programming to be biased (nationally) and dated, shallow, and biased (locally). When Gwen Ifill couldn't drum up anyone other than American Enterprise Intsitute members for interviews, or when Gloria Penner couldn't ask Jerry Sanders as single hard question, or when Lawrence Welk-like shows were aired endlessly, that's when I stopped watching. Mark Shields' commentary is the only thing with news value on PBS... plus kudos to Antiques Roadshow and Austin City Limits. If PBS would go full-time Olberrmanlike Shields and HGTV-like programming, with ACL thrown in, they would survive. We have the whole world of news available on the Internet. That's REAL public broadcasting. Who needs Ifill or Lehrer?

Posted by PBS Has Strangled Itself | reply to this comment
July 4, 2008 5:38 pm

So...W is responsible for the problems of KPBS. Gee, I thought it was a GM that spent more money than he took in...but, come to think of it, W ran big deficits, too, and Myrland was just following his example. So, yes, in addition to global warming, George Bush singlehandedly brought down the local PBS affiliate. That guy gets around!

Posted by JAD | reply to this comment
July 5, 2008 1:56 am

..."blinkered, philistine, pig-ignorant" UT editorial? Sorry, you'll have to be more specific. That description could be applied to almost any editorial from the Kittle klan. Which particular blinkered, philistine, pig-ignorant UT editorial do you mean?

Posted by Fred Williams | reply to this comment
July 5, 2008 8:43 am

If the PEEB goes away, will we miss it? A far more interesting story could focus on why XLNC-1 is allowed two frequencies in one market, one of which happens to choke out Pacifica Radio at 90.7FM. Could there be some right-wing chicanery responsible for this bizarre hogging of the airwaves? If so, it's effective; three million voters in SD are deprived of the kind of progressive media coverage that KPBS forgot how to do years ago.

Posted by Fred | reply to this comment
July 5, 2008 5:37 pm

Just another good reason to throw the Bushies and their ilk out of office- whether it be at the local level on councils and commissions on up to the White House and Congress. Repubs have damaged our civil rights and sense of integrity almost beyond repair. But I am confident the American people will wake up someday. Maybe they need one more reign of Bush/McCain to do it though. Thank god for KPBS! And local Cable like KOCT, etc!

Posted by Coast Watcher | reply to this comment
July 6, 2008 11:30 am

It's ironic that most of these people posting are left of center in their criticisms and demands of Public Broadcasting. What if PBS were right of center... or Conservative in values? As for civil rights, for the life of me, I can't find any of my civil rights that have been taken away or shredded. If any threat exists, it's from the growing legion of people who demand that political correctness be raised to the level of felonies and that Free Speech be restricted.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
July 7, 2008 6:09 am

BlackJack, your failure to note your loss of liberty is shared by many cons who haven't read the Patriot Act. Though its long (3000-plus) pages, its worth your time and is far scarier than any horror novel. Had you and your rightie buddies been a tad more studious, you'd know that you went from being a citizen to the equivalent of a parolee and you'd understand the meaning of the wacky ramblings of John Yoo, too. Instead of demonstrating your ignorance, wise up and read the thing; if you call yourself an American, your conscience ought to demand it.

Posted by Fred | reply to this comment
July 7, 2008 12:34 pm

I have never understood why the government should be involved in PBS at all. I understand grants to get programs done. I understand soliticing your viewers for donations. What I don't understand is blaming anyone but the leadership of the local PBS station for how it is handled. Did George Bush decide that Lawrence Welk should be shown every Saturday night for all eternity? Did George Bush decided that British comedy is the bomb and we all need to watch it? Did George Bush decide that pledge weeks we would be subjected to Doo Wop shows and old fogey folk artists? Did George Bush decide that I need to be better with my money so they put on those almost infomercial shows on money management? I think not. Blame the right person or persons. Programming decisions are important.

Posted by Ann | reply to this comment
July 7, 2008 3:25 pm

If there is one thing this country can do without, it is the continued existence of the Putrid Broadcasting System. Designed as, hastily put together to be and spectacularly resplendent as a bleeding heart mouthpiece for ultra-left liberalism, socialism and all ideas un-American, it serves nothing save the quirky political ideas of its extremist operators and the overblown egos of a would-be, pseudo-intellectual clique, the members of which imagine themselves as knowing far more about running this country than the common peons who pay for its upkeep. As these super-intellects gather in the salons of the Upper West Side and the Hollywood Hills, they take delight in knowing how far superior they are to the "little people." It's much as Lenin and the Bolsheviks imagined themselves on the eve of revolution. PBS? Nein, danke. Merci, non. No, thanks.

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
July 7, 2008 8:39 pm

Would the odd posters to this series of letters who occasionally use the term "neocon" kindly do themselves and all other readers a great service and first inform themselves of the definition of a neocon and how and why one is different from a conservative? The devil is in the details and in this particular case some people are trapped in hell because of their own ignorance. Picking up and using a trendy political term does not a pundit make.

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
July 7, 2008 8:52 pm

To Fred- The last time I checked PBS was supposed to be a public station. How does that mandate "progressive coverage" with our tax money? As the Democrats try to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine", it would be nice if our tax money could buy something other than Bill Moyers, Tavis Smiley, Judy Woodruff, Charley Rose, Mark Shields, etc. I guess must have missed all those "right wingers" on the public airwaves.

Posted by Brian | reply to this comment
July 7, 2008 9:38 pm

Friend Fred, I've read the Patriot Act, the 9-11 Commission Report and countless other books. Never one for paranoia, I'm not afraid of the Patriot Act nor of the recent Security Act that was set in place. Both at least bring us near what the Brits have in combating Islamic teror. The only rights shredded have been like what happened when Judy Miller was cut loose and nearly destroyed in a witch hunt. If that had happened a few decades ago, we would never have had the Pentagon Papers. As for being a rightie, I'm Eurocentric, neither rightie, leftie, uppie or downie. Also, I'm citizen in every respect- my family has been in the country for two centuries. Each generation, myself included, have done sacrifice and more for America.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
July 8, 2008 7:49 am

Thank you, Ann. As usual, very well put. I especially chuckle at the obtuse reasoning of some of the other writers. Not only is George Bush personally responsible for the fact that PBS is basically crap, but now it is revealed here that it is really his puppetmaster, Dick Cheney who is at fault! Boy, these guys must really be smart to have wreaked all this havoc in the world -- the 9-11 attack, to the oil crisis, to the dreck, presented on PBS. They maybe evil as hell, but you have to give it to them, they are two smart cookies. Thanks for pointing that out, Coast Watcher. Semper Vigilans. The rest of us would never have caught on to that.

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
July 8, 2008 8:36 am

Wow. KPBS is left-of-center? Stop the presses! What a headline! And that makes it different from commercial media exactly how? (Apologies for the Yoda-like syntax.) KPBS does provide good information on a variety of issues, and you don't have to wade through any Jamie Lynn Spears baby updates to hear it. But please, Mr. or Ms. Edmonds, if you want to build support for your position, try doing a little fact-checking. KPBS employees are FAR from underpaid. They are very good at their jobs...however, they are paid significantly better than their colleagues at other stations, who are equally skilled and hard-working. As a taxpayer, I resent underwriting an industry (public broadcasting) that can't compete in the free market AND pays its employees higher wages than those in the public sector.

Posted by RecoveringRadioGuy | reply to this comment
July 11, 2008 12:06 pm

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