Since 1994, PBS's NewsHour has secretly been owned and produced by a big for-profit media conglomera - Polidicks

[URL="http://pando.com/2014/03/07/after-pledging-transparency-pbs-hides-details-of-new-deal-with-billionaire-owner-of-newshour/"]After pledging transparency, PBS hides details of new deal with billionaire owner of NewsHour[/URL] [QUOTE]Last month, in response to Pando’s revelations that anti-pension mogul John Arnold secretly was financing PBS’s "Pension Peril" series, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting issued a scathing report demanding immediate reform. Criticizing "the lack of transparency" at PBS, CPB’s ombudsman Joel Kaplan declared that public broadcasting outlets must let the public access details of their financial dealings. So how’s that new commitment to transparency going? ... Most Americans likely assume that the NewsHour (which, after all, is made with support from viewers like you) is actually owned and produced by PBS. It is an understandable assumption considering PBS’s own president declared that the NewsHour "is ours, and ours alone," and further considering that the program receives millions of public dollars every year. [B]However, since 1994, the NewsHour has been produced and primarily owned by the for-profit colossus, Liberty Media. Liberty, which is run by conservative billionaire John Malone, owns the majority stake in MacNeil/Lehrer Productions – the entity that produces the journalistic content of the show.[/B] While other standalone public television projects are often produced by small independent production companies, the NewsHour stands out for being owned by a major for-profit media conglomerate headed by a politically active billionaire. But now that ownership is about to change. According to an internal memo sent to staff by NewsHour’s founders and minority owners Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer, ownership of NewsHour will soon be transferred from Liberty Media to Washington, D.C.’s PBS member station, WETA. [QUOTE]We have concluded that the time has come to find a new, long-term home for The NewsHour. The current operation has worked beautifully because our long-time partnership with Liberty Media has been as perfect as any such relationship could be. When Liberty acquired its majority interest in MLP 18 years ago it was done with the agreement that editorial control and management would always rest with us–Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer, individually. Liberty has honored that arrangement in such a way that has made it possible for us to have the independence we all have enjoyed all these years. Despite the chummy nature of the letter, and the apparent generosity underlying the deal – Liberty is handing the NewsHour to PBS! – the deal raises a huge number of questions.[/QUOTE] For one thing, why is the for-profit Liberty Media agreeing to transfer ownership of a privately owned, $28-million-a-year asset to a PBS member station? Is it an altruistic move on the part of John Malone or might there possibly be some financial or tax benefit to Liberty? Also, during Liberty’s ownership of NewsHour, exactly how much money from "viewers like us" (and taxpayers like us) went from PBS to NewsHour and into the coffers of Liberty? And how much control did Liberty have over NewsHour’s journalistic output? ... Despite the clear transparency demands from the CPB, neither PBS nor Liberty would disclose any details of the deal. Nor would PBS, MacNeil/Lehrer or WETA spokespeople commit to disclosing any details in future. Even the most basic questions about the current funding and editorial direction of NewsHour were met with vague answers, or no answers at all.[/QUOTE]

Shit, and I thought PBS was decent.

Well, at least they're trying to change... If we actually funded PBS with public funds, this wouldn't even be an issue.

[QUOTE=_Kent_;44184777]Shit, and I thought PBS was decent.[/QUOTE] PBS and NPR have been going down the shitter for like the last two decades. This is not the first time stuff loke this has been revealed. Think back to 10-20 years ago. PBS and NPR are one of the only news sources that aren't bought out my big businesses, and as such broadcast things that might make people more progressive. There is no way they'd let PBS diminish their influence.

I've watched the newshour with this time and it's way better then the cable news networks.

[QUOTE=Ithon;44185549]I've watched the newshour with this time and it's way better then the cable news networks.[/QUOTE] There's no denying that it's better, but I think Al Jazeera America holds the title of "Most Accurate News Outlet" right now. NPR had it for a while, and they still do in the radio space, but you really can't beat AJA for TV news. [editline]10th March 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=The Baconator;44185404]PBS and NPR have been going down the shitter for like the last two decades. This is not the first time stuff loke this has been revealed. Think back to 10-20 years ago. PBS and NPR are one of the only news sources that aren't bought out my big businesses, and as such broadcast things that might make people more progressive. There is no way they'd let PBS diminish their influence.[/QUOTE] This is true, but you can't listen to Prairie Home Companion on a commercial news station.

so whats up with republicans dissing PBS for being goverment leftist funded with taxpayer money to spread lies about those evil gays to indoctrinate our children in libral ideals and nonsense like evolution or the so called history of the world which doesn't include the bible

[QUOTE=woolio1;44185782]There's no denying that it's better, but I think Al Jazeera America holds the title of "Most Accurate News Outlet" right now. NPR had it for a while, and they still do in the radio space, but you really can't beat AJA for TV news. [/QUOTE] the first time i tuned in to aja the anchor called costa rica "casto rico" [editline]9th March 2014[/editline] 10/10 a+ news

[QUOTE=Sableye;44186042]so whats up with republicans dissing PBS for being goverment leftist funded with taxpayer money to spread lies about those evil gays to indoctrinate our children in libral ideals and nonsense like evolution or the so called history of the world which doesn't include the bible[/QUOTE] Part of a secret is that you don't tell anyone about it. Even your friends.

I'm looking through this and all I see are Pando sources everywhere, even the original article is missing any sort of confirming outside sources. I'm still digging around though. Hell, from some research it looks like PandoDaily focuses on tech news, not news about other outlets or anything like that.

[QUOTE=BrickInHead;44186120]the first time i tuned in to aja the anchor called costa rica "casto rico" [editline]9th March 2014[/editline] 10/10 a+ news[/QUOTE] Brian Williams flubs all the time, and don't get me started on CNN.

[QUOTE=Swilly;44186383]I'm looking through this and all I see are Pando sources everywhere, even the original article is missing any sort of confirming outside sources. I'm still digging around though. Hell, from some research it looks like PandoDaily focuses on tech news, not news about other outlets or anything like that.[/QUOTE] This is, from what I'm able to glean, original reporting that's digging up and breaking the story. That tends not to have lots of supporting references to other news orgs, because you're surfacing the story to begin with. The author references people as sources, but most of them are involved with PBS or one of the other entities being written about. The reporting Pando is doing on PBS's backroom deals has at the very least caused[URL="http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303824204579421621041173450"] the WSJ to go after Pando[/URL] for bringing sunshine on the secret links between manipulative billionaires and media outlets funded by them. I did some digging in the case. [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/business/media/pbs-newshour-looks-to-change-ownership.html?_r=0"]Liberty Media seems to have been in talks to give over NewsHour to WETA last October, reported by the NY Times.[/URL] [URL="http://fair.org/press-release/taking-the-public-out-of-public-tv/"]FAIR was sounding the "NewsHour is actually privately owned, people" bell in 2010.[/URL] Nobody noticed. This is also in the context of FAIR finding that PBS, and NewsHour specifically, were pulling subtle but distinct and pervasive bias tricks, which is less comprehensively touched on by Pando this time around. [URL="http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2010/10/fair_vs_pbs_again_1.html"]PBS responded to FAIR.[/URL]

[video=youtube;h6IBbViUzVU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6IBbViUzVU[/video] Just in case any of you forgot about Charlie Rose's disgraceful interview. NPR was just as abhorrent before the invasion started.

[QUOTE=Swilly;44186383]I'm looking through this and all I see are Pando sources everywhere, even the original article is missing any sort of confirming outside sources.[/QUOTE] Same. Everybody else quotes Pando as their original source. I can't find anything about this "Pension Peril" series they mentioned. It sounds like a kids cartoon by the way describe it.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;44187434]Same. Everybody else quotes Pando as their original source. I can't find anything about this "Pension Peril" series they mentioned. It sounds like a kids cartoon by the way describe it.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.cpb.org/ombudsman/display.php?id=187"]CPB's ombudsman posts about the Pension Peril/John Arnold[/URL], and [URL="http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2014/02/tensions_over_pensions_1.html"]PBS's ombudsman replied as well[/URL]. I have not seen the "Pension Peril" pieces myself. Edit: Found this: [QUOTE]As for the "Pension Peril" series, it's typical of reporting that treats public employee benefits as though they're the chief cause of municipal fiscal problems. They're not; their importance is consistently exaggerated by special interests who have ulterior motives for attacking public employees. The "Pension Peril" installment on California paints municipal employee benefits as a driver of the bankruptcy of the city of Vallejo; [URL="http://to.pbs.org/1gxovxa"]you have to listen very carefully[/URL] for the fleeting references to the role of the loss of a shipyard -- a major employer in town -- and the overall economic downturn. Nor will you hear any reference to the real cause of underfunding of public employee pensions in California, which was the foolhardy decision in the 1990s to give municipalities a "holiday" on their annual pension contributions because the stock market was soaring so high. When the markets crashed in 2008, the rot created by that decision was exposed by the receding tide. (More recently, the rising markets have begun to restore health to the pension funds.)[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-how-pbs-soldr-20140217,0,7394121.story"](LA Times)[/URL] Link in quote is as the original and goes to a PBS video clip.