A Quick Observation on the Young Avengers
09.February.2006 at 19:21 (+0000) by Robin S.
Warning: this post contains spoilers for Young Avengers #10 and comic-book geekiness.
You’ve been warned.
Category Comics
|
No Comments »
Breaking News: President Bush Hates Elmo
09.February.2006 at 18:15 (+0000) by Robin S.
According to BBC News, the president’s 2007 budget calls for cuts in the public broadcasting budget “in an effort to find more money for the military.”
I seriously doubt that someone sitting in a meeting said, “Well, we need more military cash. Let’s raid Cookie Monster’s cookie jar.” Still, there is an increase of spending for the military, which does mean that there will be either a.) more spending or b.) cuts in other areas, so I’m going to let the jab at the military go by unanswered. It’s sort of true, at least.
What I don’t get is why cutting the Public Broadcasting System’s budget is necessarily a bad thing. Back in the “old days”, when most people got their television “over the air” instead of by cable or satellite, PBS served a function that wasn’t really served by any other channels. Now, though, almost every function that PBS serves is done better by someone else. News shows? I’ve got about seven channels devoted to news (depending on whether you consider C-Span, C-Span 2, and channels primarily devoted to financial news to be true news channels, I’ve got a few more or a few less). Education? I’ve currently got four Disccovery channels, Animal Planet, and The Science Channel. History? The History Channel, History Channel International, and the Military Channel. Documentaries? Yep, I’ve got a channel devoted entirely to those, too.
Believe that, as Ed Markey said, “the public broadcasting system represents the last stronghold of quality child-oriented programming”? Someone might want to tell all of the kids who enjoy shows like Dora the Explorer that the shows they’re enjoying aren’t “quality” programming.
In the end, I don’t see why the government is funding Public Television (especially if (as I assume is the case), it’s not truly “public”, and that Intellectual Property lawyers would slaughter anyone who tried to make their own unauthorized Sesame Street episodes), when it’s obvious that most of the functions have a market that would easily support them.