There was an interesting piece in the New York Times yesterday (8/1/11) by Elizabeth Jensen about plans to ship PBS programming across the pond. It’s a hard concept to get your head around, especially if you’re under the impression that Britain’s public broadcasting system is superior to our own.
That might not be the strangest part, though:
W. David Lyons, chairman and chief executive of the Orca Exploration Group, which operates a Tanzanian natural gas field, is backing the PBS UK project financially. PBS described him as “a Canadian-born entrepreneur and venture philanthropist” who “grew up on PBS programming and is interested in bringing such content to the U.K.”
There’s something perfect about this. PBS–long criticized for being too cozy with giant energy industry sponsors–is trying to get into Britain with the backing of an energy company CEO.British viewers might not understand that the word “Public” in the name is intended to be ironic.
So PBS is going to send all of those Masterpiece Theatre like shows back to the UK?
If “public” means what it does in the case of Britain’s private schools, the Brits are well used to it.
On this side of the Atlantic, some people think a private company whose shares can be purchased on a (private) stock exchange is “public.” (What they mean is “publicly traded.”)
Maybe that explains the PBS name: it uses public airwaves to broadcast corporate-influenced information. Irony is everywhere.
Right On, Emwatcher:
The plebs won’t know what hit ’em.
Like what’s with NewHour’s “Recap” of the same sterile 58 minutes you just sat through — any how/why well-seasoned journalists never seem to come up with an opinion. On anything.
NewsHour is indeed a subsidiary of a publicly-traded MSM giant which owns 65% of NewsHour’s stock. One helluva guarantee that bad business news is tar papered over and only “industry analysts” and lobbyists are fit for discussion — even with the deliberately slow pace of PBS NewsHour that was once designed for heated discussion.
And — by they way — how come Franklin-Templeton gets to say virtually non-stop that F-T is saving our lives by finding new counter-parties for default swaps and opening more opaque markets for everything else in the world traded in 1) the middle of the night and 2) in an OTC market?
And let’s not forget that eHarmony.com is creating more marriages than ever so that divorce courts will have more cases on their docket than ever. And all without eHarmony running so much as a commercial in all but name only. Amazing. But at least F-T and eHarmony.com are more upfront about their financial tie-ins to PBS or if they have some other agenda than pure profit. Exxon Mobil and those (are they really?) charitable trusts are about as nebulous as the Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie Foundations — consider what a bunch of a**holes their founders were.
But until the UK really sees how Americans really live, no one is really safe, are they? For instance, why Americans consider discussing politics in public to be as impolite as Britons do about talking to anyone for decades on end — until they’ve been properly introduced.
But there’s an upside to the PBS UK proposal, too. The Brits can see what Americans aren’t allowed to see on PBS — that 1/4th of our children go hungry, and that nearly that many don’t reach 6th Form — or 3rd, 4th,or 5th form, either. And they might even see a body bag or zinc coffin sitting on a forklift at Dover AFB. Because maybe they’re sicker of Washington’s wars than we are. Or — rather — we are said to be because it would be unpatriotic to say otherwise. Maybe Americans aren’t ever “properly introduced,” either.
Or — just like all the other trashy formats on MSM TV news — PBS UK can talk about the sh*t really hitting the fan on — let’s say collapsing I-35 bridges — and then throw in a “positive note” about a project at Gary IN Community College gettting funds to buy styrofoam bridge parts, angel food model cars and balsa big rigs that shows the country’s on the right track. As if all this crap gives the viewer a “balanced perspective.”
And “Messterpiece Theatre.” Have enough Brits seen “Motel Hell,” “Debbie Does Upstairs/Downstairs” or “Dial 976 for Murder?” Other than “Zen” “Sherlock” and “Downton Abbey” — this year’s PBS Masterpiece was a bust. It’s time the roles were reversed, anyway.
I mean, can’t the UK just get cable PBS on British Sky or Murdoch’s “Pirate” Free (Trade) Europe Spy Cablevision? I mean — why should their PBS be better than ours? Think of all the PBS envy it’d cause.
Just looked at my areas PBS schedule for today.You may call it corporate influenced…..I call it a snore.Why do I have the sick feeling that Britain’s will be changing en mass to Jersey shore(do they even get it?)?My guess is it will do badly over there.
Michael E, it seems to me that you need to watch PBS more often, and perhaps read more as well. I counted at least 11 typographical, spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors in your short, three sentence post.
Pat….Im always sloppy as hell.Sorry about that. That one was typed one handed. Leaning over a railing, as I painted(long story).As far as watching PBS……..I do. Especially during their fund raising drives :)
Oh reading…..What pray tell am I missing?