Comments on: Save NPR, cut Big Bird.

By: scott

scott — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:32:10 +0000

I resent that I have to pay for it regardless. Personally, I was presently surprised by The Disney Channel. There are no commercials, the programming is superior to PBS as well as the production quality. It is subsidized by my active will (cable bill) versus taken from me at a point of a gun so that others can watch it were I have no interest. I like the government building roads and providing defense but I draw the line at subsidizing media (and most everything else as well).

It is moot because I no longer have a television. So now we (my family) pays so that others can watch whereas we can not even afford ourselves of that which we help pay for through taxation.

It would be hard to convince me that PBS does not lean to the left. From Bill Moyers to Gerrison Keillor to Juan Williams and the various ‘news’ or commentary shows it is primarily left. It would be curious to hear the opinions of that side of the political landscape if the reverse were the case.

By: iamanut

iamanut — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:19:57 +0000

I agree Adam. Seasame Street is a great show that can be a valuable part of a childs development. Should they be watching it at age 2? No. But as my kid enters age 4-ish, after they’ve learned to use their imagination, I have no problem letting them watch public television.

By: Adam Boddington

Adam Boddington — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 13:09:29 +0000

Are you serious? Canning Sesame Street isn’t going make kids go outside and play. In fact, the opposite will be true. Kids who currently watch Sesame Street will watch something else instead, almost certainly commercial — and boy, you should read the medical data on that one. Commercial laden television is giving kids short attention spans, selling them fast food and teaching them bad habits for life. Commercial television has an incentive to keep kids in front of it — and they’re effective at doing it too. A research group somewhere is even looking into commercial television as a factor for ADHD.

Sesame Street on the other hand promotes good nutrition, healthy exercise and basic learning skills. Most importantly, it’s commercial free. So yeah, I’d rather have kids watch that, brought to them by the letter R or the letter D (I don’t really care), as long as they aren’t watching Power Rangers, brought to them by McDonalds, Coca Cola and Barbie.

Good on you for getting your kids out in the backyard and away from the television, but don’t penalise those kids who aren’t as lucky to have a parent like you. Publicly funded programs like Sesame Street are fighting a losing battle in this commercial world — they need more funding, not less.

You might want to check out the mission statement of Sesame Street sometime.

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/aboutus/intro.php

Also, take a look at the segment descriptions for some of the most recent health and nutrition related episodes.

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/press_kit/healthrs.php