I am hearing impaired and wear hearing aids which normally work very well, except when I am watching PBS Nightly News on WHYY in Philadelphia. Judy Woodruff always seems loud enough but when there is a shift to a remote camera, the sound is hardly loud and clear enough. When the shift goes back to Judy Woodruff, sound becomes louder and clearer again. I've been a listener and watcher for over 50 years and do not enjoy watching PBS like I used to. I do NOT have the same problem with other networks, just PBS. I wonder why.
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audio quality
Pennsylvania
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Reporting Suggestion
March 20, 2020
Feedback:
I'm just wondering if you could ask the CDC or the government. Why have they not approached Seegene of South Korea to get a license to produce and manufacture test kits for the virus? It seems to me that would be a faster way to go.
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Viral:Antisemitism in four mutations
North Carolina
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Why would You present shows like this that propagate hate and more racism,against Jews or any race.
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sit and be fit
Washington
Feedback:
This is an amazing program for excercise for seniors. Since the progreams supports balance and flexibility, it is a great fall prevention program. Thank you for continuing to offer this program, especially during these challening COVID times. Many of my friends locally are participating with Mary Ann Wilson, Sit and Be Fit.
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NewsHour
May 22, 2020
Feedback:
Neither Shields, nor Brooks could opine on Trumps comments about Henry Ford made in Michigan on thursday. They gave him the benefit of the doubt for being ignorant of Ford's racism and xenaphobia.
Trump grew up in a household headed by a member of the KKK. Fred Trump was active in that organization in the 1920's, into the '30's. Did not like Africans, Asians, Latinos; eastern, southern, and south eastern Europeans as well. Had it been up to Fred Trump, neither Ivana Trump; nor the current First Lady and her family would have been allowed to immigrate to this country. And of course African Americans, and Jews are included on that list.
Ford was a bigot extraordinaire. Loved Hitler, hated Jews; in the grand tradition of many white businessmen had no problem regularly consulting with George Washington Carver on manufacturing process and operations research to make Ford Motor Company what it became. You would think that Carver would have been a Ford Executive and Board Member, but that genius was taken without proper compensation or acknowledgement. Not even a consideration.
Donald Trump knows the meaning of everything that he says, and means it. He is equally the racist and bigot that both his father and Henry Ford were, and is quite proud of it. Uses these tools as they have always been used to manage American social and economic structure throughout the pre-history and history of this nation. He is nothing new; he is just " out there " with it. Counts on everything that he does as being seen as benign and mitigable because he is a white, wealthy male. At worst, maybe having a bad day; but not really evil. Many of our children are learning from this man. Many an adult who have always wanted to show their overt racist behavior toward other americans now do it because they feel that Trump has given them permission to do so.
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There is nothing benign about him. If there is any good to be derived from his presence in the White House, it has yet to manifest itself.
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PBS news hour 5/4/2020
Wisconsin
Feedback:
I am disappointed and dismayed that the news hour failed to acknowledge or honor the 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre. History still matters, especially for we who lived through that time.
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judy Woodruff
Virginia
Feedback:
When Judy Woodruff talks about Trump someone should give her a clothespin to hold her nose. It's all about her dislike for him. David Brooks ducks his head apologetically to Mark shields when he says something positive about Trump. Then Mark Shield shakes his head and and tries to mimimize what David said. I have stopped watching. She should be replaced
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Books on Background
Arizona
Feedback:
I have a great deal of respect for Ms Judy Woodruff and noticed many books on shelves behind her during the PBS NewsHour. Could she point out, on the air, the book she liked the best and also the one that would be good to read in the time of the pandemic and other areas of concern to US citizens. Thank you, Stephen R Hempelman, MD, MBA
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George Bush
California
Feedback:
Saw the first segment of your bio of George Bush, Jr., America's 1st burned-out speed freak president. Good Freudian construct. But, it barely mentioned the "Patriot" act. That's kind of like mentioning George Wallace without talking about his racist views. I wonder what the concluding segment will be like. And I do hope this is the concluding segment on the Bushes...I here there's a Peter B. on the rise, God help us. And God save the republic.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB and PBS are separate organizations and CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact your local station or PBS directly: http://www.pbs.org/about/contact/viewer-services/
PBS News-hour Friday 29 May 2020, Host Judy Woodruff's interview with former Vice President Joe Biden on violence in Minneapolis
Feedback:
Hello, I am an avid Canadian viewer of the PBS News Hour. I am an avid viewer of the Mark Shields and David Brooks segment. On Friday of this week, I was disappointed with Joe Biden's responses to Judy Woodruff on the topic of the previous days violence by police in Minneapolis and the subsequent outrage. I also did not understand Mr. Biden's reference to Missouri in that interview. David Brooks expressed disappointment as well, though Mark Shields gave the former vice president credit for his calm and mature stance. I wished both Shields and Brooks had seen the Amna Nawaz interview with Eddie S. Glaube Jr, in another segment of the newscast. He was outraged, but calm and thoughtful. If only Joe Biden could have seen that before his own interview, perhaps he might have quoted Glaube, and pledged to build a New America.
Henry David Thoreau, the American philosopher, said in his essay Life Without Principle, "Do we call this the land of the free? What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice? What is it to be born free and not to live free? What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom?"
Thoreau died in 1862, "relatively unappreciated."
Thank you for the PBS News Hour.
I hope you can share my feedback with the former Vice President Biden, Eddie S. Glaube Jr., Mark Shields, David Brooks, Amna Nawaz, and Judy Woodruff,
Maudie Whelan.
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A GoodBye from a 64 Year old life time viewer
Connecticut
Feedback:
Over the last decade I have seen PBS become nothing but a left wing propaganda machine with pretty Nature cinematography and the odd well written British show. I kept looking Hopefully through the diminishing Number of shows I could stomach but kept running smack into your extreme lack of any other point of view Other than extreme liberal bias. It is now like watching a polished propaganda machine. I would guess you would see similar bias if you were watching TV in Moscow, but that is my guess.
Those of you old enough not to have been indoctrinated in the left wing educational system (here in CT) must be aware of this and therefore you are horrible human beings to misuse the public dollar to propagate such one sided terrible bias. It is bias BECAUSE it is one sided. Disgusting. PBS - Perpetual Bu** Sh**
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Judy Woodruff
Feedback:
The PBS Nightly news has abandoned all pretense of journalism. We used to appreciate the balance it offered in national debate, but now it's just insulting to viewers. David Brooks, a conservative???? Give me a break. He used to have some interesting commentary. Now he doesn't even try. And Judy Woodruff is so completely biased she can't even say the President's name without such tremendous, weary sadness. I kept giving the show a try, hoping they would correct this, but instead add that nitwit Alcindor, who is outrageous. I can't watch this program for even a full minute anymore. And to be clear, I am a true Independent, and have voted for both Democrats and Republicans in past years. But PBS hasn't even covered the outrageous coup attempt within the DOJ which has been a historic travesty. I'm done with PBS.
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Judy Woodruff
Arkansas
Feedback:
The PBS Nightly news has abandoned all pretense of journalism. We used to appreciate the balance it offered in national debate, but now it's just insulting to viewers. David Brooks, a conservative???? Give me a break. He used to have some interesting commentary. Now he doesn't even try. And Judy Woodruff is so completely biased she can't even say the President's name without such tremendous, weary sadness. I kept giving the show a try, hoping they would correct this, but instead add that nitwit Alcindor, who is outrageous. I can't watch this program for even a full minute anymore. And to be clear, I am a true Independent, and have voted for both Democrats and Republicans in past years. But PBS hasn't even covered the outrageous coup attempt within the DOJ which has been a historic travesty. I'm done with PBS.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB and PBS are separate organizations and CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact your local station or PBS directly: http://www.pbs.org/about/contact/viewer-services/
Classical music at KVOD
Colorado
Feedback:
The repetition of oldies but goodies on KVOD, particularly during fund-raising, turns me off any longer...literally. Whenever Vivaldi's Four Seasons comes on air, I turn off. The same applies to the god-awful John Williams junk, trash Hollywood movie soundtracks, CPR promos, the interminable testimonials and fund-raising spiels, and corporate/capitalist advertisements. Even the repetitious playing of many of my long-time favorites, i.e. The Moldau; all of Smetana's, Rimsky-Korsakov's and Dvoraks's music; Karelia Suite (parts thereof); Peer Gynt suites (parts thereof); L'Arlesienne suites (parts thereof); not to mention the interminable excerpts from Carmen, and I either ignore them or turn off. When I return to on-air KVOD...often any longer seemingly relegated to algorithmic choice...is becoming problematic. I have tons of recorded folk and popular music from the Balkans, Germany, France, Scandinavia, and the Celtic/Gaelic nations, plus a large collection of classical music. Increasingly, I don't need KVOD...and I am sorry to have to say that since I have been a constant listener to the station, in its various incarnations, since the mid-1960s. Due to the slanted extreme right-wing political content of both NPR and CPR (I refuse to have anything to do with these outfits), I will not contribute to KVOD in any way, as long as the station licenses have any association...corporate or otherwise...with those networks.
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Clarence Thomas--in His Own Words
Feedback:
I can't fathom the one-sided piece of blatant advertising for Clarence Thomas, that you decided to broadcast. What an awful joke.....especially in the time of Trump. The Koch brothers fund it, get a conservative ideologue to write, produce and direct it. Wow. Then YOU show it? It's shameful. You have sunk to a new low, PBS. One thing is for sure---it's in HIS WORDS, alright!! (And his wife's). Nobody else 'good' enough to interview ABOUT Thomas? No one on the side who had a few things to say about him? Ah, that would have introduced an element of TRUTH to it, that I'm sure the production just couldn't risk. What a piece of whitewashing mythology. How offensive that you allow the undermining marginalization of Anita Hill, through honoring this hack, in this kind of way.
Ridiculously sappy music underneath misty lakes and folksy RV crossing the countryside, and Thomas looking wistfully up at his grandfather's bust, for inspiration. Ugh. Ack. Oh dear, you've made me question you soooooo.....CPB. One of your low points for certain~~and it lowers us all.
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Frontline
Colorado
Feedback:
I have never watched Frontline before but like with all of your programming you want me to pay to watch??? I always have to rail you before I ever get to watch any o fb your programs. Why is that? P.s. mI do pay to be a passport member because no one can watch your ‘free’ programming without paying so I do not understand why I cannot watch Frontline tonight???
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting us with your concern about funding public media and its content. Public media is a public-private partnership relying on multiple sources of funding in addition to the federal investment. PBS stations have always relied on donations from individuals to provide content to local communities and contributions from members to local stations are the largest single source of support for public television. In 2011, Congress asked CPB to produce a report on alternatives to federal funding for public media (PUBLIC LAW 112–74—DEC. 23, 2011). A link to that report can be found below. PBS Passport, which offers extended access to national and local content, is an added benefit of station membership. It cannot be purchased separately and is not a subscription service. This member benefit is a complement to the fundamental service PBS and PBS stations provide -- access to outstanding programming via over-the-air broadcast and through free streaming for a significant time. Every program available via Passport was previously available for streaming to non-Passport Members after the broadcast. Public media continues to offer the broadest access to freely available TV content – over-the-air on local member stations, through digital platforms and in communities across the U.S. Both local and national content is available without charge from stations around the country through a variety of platforms. https://www.cpb.org/files/aboutcpb/Alternative_Sources_of_Funding_for_Public_Broadcasting_Stations.pdf
Firing Line
California
Feedback:
What is Margaret Hoover doing hosting "Firing Line"? Yes, she's a good looking woman. PERIOD : She dishonors Bill Buckley's name and that of the intellectual right. Miss Hoover doesn't have a thing to say, does not asking penetrating questions, and adds nothing to the national discussion of the issue at hand. I guess she has her grandfather's name to go on. But didn't he lose a Presidential election by a rather W I D E margin?--this makes her worthy of her own show? How about the Hillary Clinton hour?--I could see her first guest now...William Jefferson Clinton! I've watched this new "Firing Line" three times...but no more.
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Financial news reporting
Feedback:
I’m a big fan. OK? But please stop saying “Today the market rose MORE THAN . . .” When you really mean the market rose ABOUT. . . . “. You are better than that. MORE THAN means any higher number. Please stop it.
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PBS NewsHour
May 2020
Feedback:
Somebody of authority at PBS needs to review the program Newshour, I think with Judy Woodruff. Its a skit on liberalism. It's not news. They make comments about the President being exposed to the virus from the President of Brasil visiting and one of his aides standing next to him. It showed a picture. The host asked for a comment from the pundits, I guess you could call them, and they were giddy in saying the President had been exposed. They were basically laughing, smiling, and smirking. Yours is not a news program. It's ridiculous. It's a joke. It's a circus. If you don't want Trump as your President, at least give him some respect. Someone needs to do something about your out-of-control attitude of hatred towards a President. I didn't like Obama, but I respected him and I never talked bad about him, especially in public. Feel free to call me.
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Your programs have overbearing LOUD music, and drowning out the voices.
California
Feedback:
ALL of your shows (Documentaries, Nature, Frontline and Create, etc) now have music so loud it DROWNS out the dialogue and conversations. It is often musical styles which do not even relate to the style or nature of the program. This seems like someone's bad idea or way to employ relatives and friends who are musicians.
Don't blame our TV sound system. We have had the same system since 2012 and only in recent years has this happened on more and more of your programs. By the way we HAVEN'T noticed it on the limited number of COMMERCIAL TV programs we watch. We have had to stop watching MOST CreateTV shows. As far as NOVA and Frontline programs, the music has become the lame method of telling us "how to feel" during the program.
You (CPB) need to get the word out to the production teams that it is seriously out of hand. Please, no more excuses.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce or broadcast any programming, and CPB is prohibited by law from interfering with editorial concerns related to programming. Please contact your local station with your concern.