The wokety-woke-woke world of public broadcasting

(They helped you; now you can help them)

The current administration has put public broadcasting in the crosshairs, and there was a public outcry in February when PBS eliminated their DEI unit. But, as this public editor letter said, when the news broke and angry people began writing in:

…here’s the reality I’ve come to know from numerous conversations with PBS employees and executives: The work by PBS to more accurately reflect demographics of the United States has not ended. PBS President Paula Kerger said in her note announcing the DEI decision (and then in a company-wide conference call) that the broadcaster remains “a welcoming place” for people from all ethnic and demographic threads that make up our national quilt.

Eliminating the DEI unit, I believe, was a necessary step to comply with an arguably legitimate presidential order.

“Arguably legitimate” is too polite, but I am not writing public letters.

Public broadcasting is a child of the ‘60s, back when Republicans and Democrats shared some goals, and their disagreements mostly centered around how to reach those goals. It wasn’t a simpler time — at all — and yet laws built up as guardrails to protect the idea of public broadcasting. Then came Trump, and despite decades of bipartisan support:

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have passed legislation on a narrow, party-line basis to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting for the next two years. That's $1.1 billion previously approved by the Republican-led Congress and President Trump. The reversal is notionally due to the need to cut funds to help pay for new Republican priorities, including an expansion of immigration enforcement and extension of Trump's prior tax cuts.

That this cut comes so the federal government can kidnap more brown people is the antithesis of the mission and message of public broadcasting.

So sure, there are a lot of tugs for your donation dollars, but if you are able:

Here’s where you can donate to PBS. Here’s another way.

Here’s how to donate to NPR. Or you can look up your local outlet. Remember: There are more of us than there are of them.