another one bites the dust

I’d be a total hypocrite if I said I was surprised by this (my blog is called Infotainment Rules, after all), but it seems that PBS’s NewsHour—one of the last remaining outposts of  in-depth, not-hysterical, and thoughtful daily coverage of current events— is not long for this world.

On May 1, salaries were frozen at the newscast, and company contributions to 401(k) retirement funds were suspended, cutbacks suggested by the staff. “NewsHour” still has two corporate sponsors — Chevron and the Pacific Life Insurance Company — and it receives support from PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But only part of the Archer money has been replaced, leaving the budget several million dollars short.

“NewsHour,” along with other PBS mainstays, may have a longer-term problem. Not only are corporations cutting back on all forms of advertising during the current economic slowdown, but public television’s model — soliciting long-term commitments — is also increasingly out of step with the changing needs of corporations, which no longer sponsor public television programs for purely philanthropic reasons.

Indeed. Unless you’re “green” and can give Corporation Big Foot a nice reflecting green glow and the moral superiority that goes along with it, your outstretched hands will stay empty. Be gone! There’s no money in corporate coffers for philanthropy.

Not that providing the news to the public should be left to philanthropists. But nor is receiving “the news” an entitlement of the people. If we expect those who profit from the public airwaves to offer us the people a public service by telling us “the news,” then we the people must demand it (rather than shrug and accept the circus performances on offer at the “cable news” shows as “news”).

Of course if we are no longer the audience but are rather the people formerly known as the audience, then that has to be factored in, too.

Either way, those who want to know what’s going on in the world around them will need to do more than sit passively in front of a box—or a flat panel. They’ll have to interact, and look around, and read, and judge for themselves the veracity and reliability of what they’re reading. Critical-thinking skills will be more important than ever in this brave new world.