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It is bewildering to me that tax payers democrats and republicans give money to PBS as a non political entity, yet in all their coverage, both radio and tv are far to the left in a lot of their coverage of political issues. Shame on them, and shame on us for supporting them!

I understand that people leaning left or right on the political scale can see bias in reporting and interviewing. I have watched the PBS Newshour on and off for many years and I sense a shift in reporting to the left. For example, following a final report on the unsuccessful impeachment proceedings against the president in late January and February, a PBS Newshour reporter stated that another House Committee would soon launch another inquiry into the president. To which Ms. Woodruff replied forcefully with a smile, "You bet!" This seemed to imply that she wholeheartedly supported yet another attempt oust the president. I thought that was uncalled for and showed extraordinary bias unbecoming a journalist. This is but one example of what I hear regularly on the program. Ms. Woodruff seems to go to great lengths to be harsh and almost uncivil in tone, demeanor and line of questioning of anyone from the Republican side of the political spectrum compared to the softer tone and line of questioning with anyone on the Democratic side and I do not believe I am imagining it. I have seen this in her interviews with the Senator from Wyoming vs. NY's Schumer or Speaker Pelosi. She impatiently interrupts the Republican, not allowing the person to completely answer the question, while letting the Democrat talk on and on without interruption. This results in a different impression of the interviewee, negative as to the Republican and positive for the Democrat. The day to day reporting seems, by implication, to lay the blame for every event at the feet of the current administration, be it a weather event or a racial confrontation or a gun related situation. I get a "gotta" feeling when I watch the Newshour. What I want, and so many other people too, is balanced and fair reporting that the newshour advertises. Reading the CPB viewer comment section, many people do not feel that the PBS Newshour offers balanced, fair reporting. Many Americans do not seem to trust in the news they are receiving from PBS Newshour that is funded, in part, by the taxpayer and viewers. I am one of them. I have found the Wall Street Journal to be far more balanced and educational in the presentation on issues of the day with well written columns and editorials. The news coverage is better too, with reports from many places around the world, rather than touchy feely articles that are weak on information. The WSJ leans conservative, but it provides a forum for differing views, such as a column by Rahm Emanuel on why Biden would be a president for change and Trump is a disrupter, or the column on the background of Harris' mother, a Tamil Brahmin, from a culture that highly values education, who was forced to leave India due to quota systems for employment. This explains why Harris as SF DA prosecuted parents of truant children. She values education too. It's a pity she has been reviled by the black community for this effort. Without an education, there is no hope of becoming a contributing member of our society. What I seek in the news is a variety of opinion and wide range reporting so I can form my own opinions. The PBS Newshour does not measure up and in fact it is a disappointment. Another PBS program, Amanpour and Company is equally disappointing and is even more biased in its presentations. Recently, the program had as guests, the Lt Governor or Michigan (democrat) and the woman who started Republicans against Trump, to discuss the upcoming election in the battleground state. There was no interview with a Republican or a group that is against Biden. There was no balance in the program. Why do you continue to carry such a one-sided excuse for journalism? Ms. Amanpour seems to have abandoned any standards of journalism in her programs and they should be offered as commentary and entertainment. She is reputed to have said, "when you are neutral, you are an accomplice." This should not be the position of a journalist and yet the PBS Newshour program and Amanpour and Company appear to be anything but neutral.

I am legally blind as are over three milion people in the US. I know that PBS accomodates the hearing impaired with captions. However, when programs have people speaking in other languages, there is no voice over to help us understand what is being said. Also, with some shows that are hard to understand there are also sub titles and again, low or no vision patrons are left out. Of course it is not only PBS but all TV staions, but supposedly PBS is interested in accessibility. Another issue the diversity of programming in SW Florida. We are "snowbirds" and have the opportunity to compare programming in Fla. and Southestern, Connecticut(Ct.) Though the couhnty in Ct. is not affluent about two and half hrs. NYC, we have six PBS channels wh are: Ch.2; Boston: Ch.13, Hartford: Ch1160, Create; Ch.1161"Sorit"; Ch.1146 World and chPBS44, local PBSBoston. One thing are do appreciate is that Friday and Saturday night are a little"special". Series such as "Dr. Blake" and "Mid-Sommer Murders" and other interesting programs are aired. So too, they have finally cancelled "The Lawrence Welk Show, which has been on my whole teen and adult life and I am 77. It is really time to say "Goodbye" to Lawrence. While you are at it, "Keeping up Appearance" and "As Time Goes By" need to be laid to rest. :ast is the repetition; I know your funds have been cut but repeating things ten to twenty times a month is wearing. If you must repeat, go back to your succesful series from the past such as "Jewel in the Crown" and re-run" those. Because I have twice as many choices in Ct. the repetition does not bother me as much.

October 28, 2020

Dear PBS,

How many hundreds of thousands of households in Maine no longer get public television? If you took a poll to determine who is able to watch PBS anymore I think you would be surprised that it truly is in the hundreds of thousands.

Why when WCSH TV channel 6 NBC switched to digital recently and all I had to do was rescan my TV to get it. As for PBS, I haven't been able to view it since you switched to something else impossible to get even on a new smart TV.

Years have gone by with no PBS for probably hundreds of thousands of Mainers. is just unknow or it's swept under the carpet along with the viewership of myself and everyone else in Maine who hasn't viewed PBS for YEARS.

Sincerely,

Randy Hawkins appletonfair22@yahoo.com

Shame on you. I felt the discussion with the French Laundry chef was appalling and insensitive to what is occurring today. Parents can’t feed their children, millions are out of work, and many face eviction while this chef feels it important to give people (rich people) an “experience” dining for $1600.00 a couple. I turned it off because it made me sick. If he said at the end he donated $1400 to their local food bank I would have felt better.

In the interests of transparency, I was looking through the cpb.org website for staff and officer salaries. It surprised me to find that there is little to no information about what the staff and officers are paid, and since this organization is entirely funded by taxes, it should be somewhat easier to determine how those tax dollars are spent. I see that 5% of total revenues are allocated to administration costs, but further details are lacking. Where can one find this information?

I wanted to comment on the debates last night and in general. I find that there is a remarkably limited variety of commentary going on, not a wide range of discussions like I am used to. I used to watch the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. What I really liked about it is that one got a very wide variety of perspectives on things. There were great discussions and one could always rely on the fact that you were going to learn something new and be enlightened. Even if you didn't necessarily agree with a person's opinion or their take on their subject, you got a different perspective on it. What is different now is that it seems to be all of the same perspectives and it is a shame. Judy Woodruff is the managing editor of the NewsHour and she was a contributor to the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour significantly. She knows very well about the mechanisms of having a varied perspective and point of view is practiced in journalism. I'm very disappointed in Ms. Woodruff and the whole operation. It seems to be very amateurish. You have people who appear to be very biased and it's clear when you listen to them that they hold these partisan views. It's very discouraging and I personally don't wish my tax money to be going to this operation and I intend to make it known. 

 

 

Thanks and deep appreciation to Judy Woodruff and the staff at PBS Newshour for your professionalism: Right on, Yamiche Alcindor for 2019-2020 White House coverage. I agree with my wife who says Yamiche should get extra pay for “hazard duty” covering the liar-in-chief and his lying den of hyenas in the cabinet. Kudos to Lisa Desjardins and William Brangham, stellar work from both! We can see this past year has been extremely difficult to be true journalists and I wish to extend my sincere gratitude for PBS Newshour’s even handed, fact based reporting.

I am very, very disappointed that you are injecting propaganda into at least one program, Arthur. I thought we were into teaching children about kindness, sharing, relieving some of their anxiety about the dark, and strangers. To teach them that black people are being victimized is just disgusting. I am stopping any kind of money going to PBS, canceling any subscription that I have, and I will not allow my grandchildren that show and will monitor the other shows. It is unnecessary. I don't know if BLM is funding you. You've really crossed the line with this indoctrination, propaganda, and silliness.