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KBYU-TV keeps PBS affiliation

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PBS Fan | 5:33 p.m. June 16, 2009
I wish KBYU would show The News Hour all five weekdays. it's disappointing to tune in at 7:00PM and find a different program running. It's the best news program on TV.
Cats | 5:57 p.m. June 16, 2009
PBS did the right thing, however, just why KBYU wants to be affiliated with PBS is another question.

I guess there are still a FEW good programs on PBS. This comes from someone who used to be a PBS devotee. That's before it made such a hard turn to the left. There's plenty of other really great documentary programming on a lot of other stations now. No need for us to continue to waste our tax dollars on something the free market produces in great quantity. PBS really should be zero funded and scrapped.
irishman | 6:09 p.m. June 16, 2009
PBS should not have any say as to what the affliates watch,or show, as long as my annual contributions are paid into them, I pay channel 7, 9, and BYU.. It is freedom of speech and there are other channels to watch, and see without them saying that Christianity is involved, it is for our local area, that the Public Broadcast System is set up for, not the religious standards. Just because BYU is associated with it, should not dictate whether the Main PBS has rights for us to see our local programs.
Comments continue below
@irishman | 7:49 p.m. June 16, 2009
PBS funds a huge portion of the affiliates expenses. Your contribution does very little. KBYU is a member station of PBS, not just "associated" with it. They have a right and obligation to have a say in what their member stations show. Get the facts first.
pbs supporter | 7:52 p.m. June 16, 2009
No, PBS should not be destroyed. They should cancel their relationship with KBYU. KBYU won't show most most of PBS' programming. Part of PBS' mission statement is not to have partisan or religious programming. KBYU does not agree with this. The federal government gives token support to PBS. This means that the government is supporting the broadcast of daily Catholic mass in LA and the broadcast of LDS things in UT, among others. Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?
Tax dollars | 8:34 p.m. June 16, 2009
"Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?"

Yes.
RE: @irishman | 10:33 p.m. June 16, 2009
"PBS funds a huge portion of the affiliates expenses. Your contribution does very little."

This is simply not true. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, only $52,916,000 of PBS' $338,899,000 (or 15%) Operating Revenue came from CPB and/or Federal Grants. However, 58% came from member contributions. Donated Broadcast Rights (underwriting funds paid directly to producers by corporations, foundations and other sources to help offset program production costs) accounted for over half the Total Revenue which was $592,468,000. Unfortunately, 2008 also saw a $4,481,000 LOSS for the year.

If PBS is "Public" broadcasting, I suggest they keep the donors happy in the local markets. Unless they can pony up more federal money (tax-laced money anyway) or corporate donations, they're going to see more losses in the future.

One last point, unless PBS were to deny a legitimate call for a new religious program, there is no evidence of PBS favoring one religion over another. This was the point of the amendment in the constitution- not an all out ban of religion in the public sector.
Re: Retheirishman | 12:05 a.m. June 17, 2009
Nice stats. Well written. Nice ending on the religion in the public sector. Kudos. You done a nice job answering the irishman.

I think both of your are pretty cool. But I agree with the stat man. God wins. Again.
Westg323 | 12:33 a.m. June 17, 2009
PBS exists to serve local as well as national markets. Like it or not, Utah is partially a Mormon market. Any idea that KBYU should completely ban religious program could be viewed as bigotry and a form of censorship.
PBS is pathetic | 5:40 a.m. June 17, 2009
I am happy that KBYU gets to keep its traditional broadcasting, but I think the whole no religious programming policy is outrageous. And to say that PBS does not air political programming is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Have you ever watched NOW or Bill Moyers? Its OK to be a shill for the left and try to push that agenda on to people, but if a local station wants to air a religious program that is valuable and wanted by the community that it is broadcast to, someone's rights are being violated? Give me a break. Why aren't publicly elected officials reviewing the inane policies made by the managers of the "public" broadcasting service?
Left? | 5:45 a.m. June 17, 2009
You mean they are not as rah, rah Republican as Fox. PBS was and is 'fair and balanced' long before Fox came along. Their family programming fits well with KBYU. I hope the relationship lasts for decades to come.
Re: Left? | 7:04 a.m. June 17, 2009
Fox News isn't subsidized with taxpayer dollars; and if you think politically nuetral "family programming" balances out some of the most liberal programming of any station (commercial or non-commercial) then you must be smoking something.
Mike | 7:14 a.m. June 17, 2009
To say the PBS doesn't broadcast partisan politics is nuts. Just watch any Bill Moyers program. Same thing with some of the commentaries on the News Hour. They are very partisan. It's almost as bad as watching ABC and Katie Couric.
Debbie | 7:18 a.m. June 17, 2009
What a sad state of affairs when Religious programming can be banned in PUBLIC Broadcasting and local interests were seriously in jeopardy in order to keep such affiliation. The divide is just getting broader all the time. This is one way "average" Americans could view such programs of local interest without having to pay a cable fee. Now, the ruling, which used the grandfather clause to protect this freedom, means other areas who might have enjoyed programs with religious messages will not be allowed to have this for all. This country is feeling more and more like Nazi Germany as freedoms are taken away from many in order to avoid "offending" some.

I have to agree PBS is pathetic and they have lost the respect of many viewers now. I recently contributed to KBYU TV in the fundraising event but had this ruling been implemented, that would have been the last donation from me.

We must all rally together to protect such basic freedom. The constitution says we will not prohibit the exercise of religion, but we are allowing the airways to do so. We are in danger, whether or not you want to watch religious programs, peril lurks.
Howard | 7:36 a.m. June 17, 2009
It is sad when irreligion has become the state religion and PBS has no problem with broadcasting irreligious shows.
JH | 7:58 a.m. June 17, 2009
Looks like discrimination against other religions. Sounds like discrimination against other religions.
Because it is discrimination against other religions.

It's immoral and UN-American. All religions should get the same treatment. Every religion should get the same access to PBS. That's the American way.

If this was being done based on peoples skin color there would be a firestorm. But on the basis of religon it's OK? NO!
The shape of things to come | 8:11 a.m. June 17, 2009
Can you believe that PBS, who thinks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of presenting half-truths, theories masquerading as, and proporting to be truth, and outright lies has a problem with a few BYU Devotionals???

That's one of the symptoms. The disease is moral relativism and militant atheism.
@ Mike 7:14 am | 8:22 a.m. June 17, 2009
Can we ever have an intelligent non-partisan news program? I doubt it.

The News Hour almost always has both conservative and liberal commentators (usually intelligent) on all issues. When has Fox News done that?

And yes, Bill Moyers is a voice of the Left, but have you listened to John McLaughlin? He's quite conservative. Why limit perspectives? I want to hear from both sides. And that includes religious programming. Why limit quality programming? Have Americans abandoned free speech?

I want to see public programming from a variety of perspectives. Conservatives should embrace PBS. It would help them to move beyond the rantings of talk radio. Can you envision a conservative documentary on Prop 8 and gay marriage that is of the quality of a "Frontline" documentary?


The Rock | 8:31 a.m. June 17, 2009
There are over 350 PBS stations nation wide.
The largest national network has over 100 fewer stations. PBS has many markets where more than one PBS station serves that market.
In 1994 or 1995 congress attempted to defund PBS. It would have been a good move. The popular programs would have survived as would PBS as a network. Many of the stations would have become independant. Their air time is valuable and they would have been a commercial success.
Free of government control the nonsense about denying KBYU its PBS affiliation would never come up.
Many of the programs on PBS preach evolution as if it were fact not theory.
Re: @ Mike 7:14 am | 8:45 a.m. June 17, 2009
Do you actually think they would air a conservative documentary on gay marriage? The point is that they are not allowing different perspectives on religion. They should, but they don't. I would be fine with the left-wing commentary of a majority of their commentators if there was truly opportunity for others to air their views as well. The fact that they are banning religious programming shows that they are not willing to look at other points of view. That would be a shame if it were just another commercial station like MSNBC or CNN, but since it is subsidized with my tax dollars, it is outrageous.
Non-partisan? | 8:46 a.m. June 17, 2009
Did anyone watch the episode of NOW they aired last week on conservative commentators and the killing of that abortion doctor in Kansas? It was full of complete lies. How can anyone objectively look at that and call it non-partisan?
spade is a spade | 8:57 a.m. June 17, 2009
it is not a fairness doctrine, call it what it really is...a Censorship doctrine.
John McLaughlin? | 9:01 a.m. June 17, 2009
Yeah he is one of the leading faces of conservatism in America. Frontline documentary "quality" - quality with an agenda!
RE: The shape of things to come | 9:09 a.m. June 17, 2009
I think somebody needs to take a few Biology classes at BYU and decide how he or she feels about teaching "half truths" and "theories." I find it extremely frustrating that the only truth so many people accept is dogmatic adherance to narrow interpretations of ancient writings. And anything that is not ultra conservatism is partisan.

The same processes of research that make it possible for people to become righteously indignant about such new and radical concepts as adaptation, natural selection, or Big Bang, are the same processes by whuch we have computers and televisions and the ability to push our insanely close-minded rhetoric on anyone with nothing better to do than read it.

And by the way I am LDS for those of you who think I am just one of "those people."

I think both scientific and religious people need to realize that no matter how much learning, or revelation, they may have, we all understand less than a fraction of nothing about nothing when it comes to the Universe, period. Just because there is a little light and knowledge does not mean we have the whole picture.
Balance? | 9:14 a.m. June 17, 2009
The question is not whether PBS airs both liberal and conservative views. The point is that they say they don't air partisan programming. An objective viewer would see that there is far more liberal programming than conservative programming, but the point is that they justify the ban on religious programming by claiming partisan programming is banned as well. What a joke!
Re: RE: The shape of things to c | 9:21 a.m. June 17, 2009
Have you ever taken a Biology class at BYU? What "half truths" are you talking about? You are wrong! Don't make accusations you can't back up.
Establishment | 9:29 a.m. June 17, 2009
There is something referre to as the establishment clause. It is part of the First Amendment to the Constitution. I realize that te only Constitutional Amendment that really matters to anyone is the Second, but the first is actually fairly important. It basically reads that the government will not establish a religion. Throughout the yeare this has been interpreted to also imply that that means the government will not officially promote or support the teachings of a given reliion. That has generally meant that the use of tax dollars in subsidizing religious education and institutions has been considered a violation of the establishment clause.

Incidentally, nowhere in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or any of the Amendments, does it say anything about opinions that could be considered partisan. The big question here is does PBS officially support any election campaigns? Does it exclusively support individual candidates? Just because a network airs material you don't agree with does not mean that they are supporting or pushing any one sort of agenda. PBS tends to lean towards Academia. Academia tends to mean intellectual. Unfortunately there is a myth that Intellectual means Left.
Oh Please | 9:32 a.m. June 17, 2009
PBS is one of the last bastions of intelligent, thoughtful,evenhanded commentary on the planet.
Here come the Baptists | 9:33 a.m. June 17, 2009
How many people would be singing the same song if the local PBS affiliate in question was operated by an Evangelical organization. What if the programming involved such obviously unbiased materials as "The Godmakers?" (That statement was meant to be sarcastic)

People tend to get all righteous and high and mighty when they feel like their particular views are being unfairly treated. They tend not to see how unfairly they treat other positions.
Snow Job | 9:40 a.m. June 17, 2009
Why would KBYU want to Lower its standards by being part of PBS? PBS is a left wing nut job. KBYU should run independent of any other station. Then, they can run all the religious programming they choose and we want. Who cares what the Left wing liberals say? They have their right to say all the fiction they choose, just as we have the RIGHT to hear the truth and teachings of Jesus Christ. Since our donations are not needed to help PBS, I think we need to stop all donations to PBS and let the Left WING people have it to spread their stories. ABC, NBC and CBS can always use help in spreading their fabrications. We should put our donations into KBYU and ask them to drop PBS. Then, KBYU will be allowed to give intelligent programming and eliminate the Left wing from their programming..
Re: Establishment | 9:43 a.m. June 17, 2009
There is also a thing called the "free exercise" clause that goes along with the establishment clause that you cling to with so much vigor. Why should a taxpayer funded television station have the right to prevent taxpayers from viewing religious programming that they want?

If PBS is for academics and intellectuals, why can I poke wholes in every argument made by Bill Moyers, NOW and most of the other liberal documentaries they air? They are not intellectuals, they are hacks.
WOW! | 9:45 a.m. June 17, 2009
What a bunch of nuts!
Re: Re: The shape of things to c | 9:53 a.m. June 17, 2009
"The same processes of research that make it possible for people to become righteously indignant about such new and radical concepts as adaptation, natural selection, or Big Bang, are the same processes by whuch we have computers and televisions and the ability to push our insanely close-minded rhetoric on anyone with nothing better to do than read it."

What exactly is the point that you're trying to make here? Your statement seems contradictory. Research is good because it gives us new inventions and theories, or research is bad because it makes us "righteously indignant."
Don't confuse your issues with the way a teacher presents material to you, with church doctrine. I graduated from Illinois State University but the best teacher I ever had was at BYU (anatomy) and the worst teacher I have ever had was at BYU (virology). All teachers, no matter where they teach are human and subject to imperfections. It is still your responsibility to sort through the material presented to you, to capture the relevant material and make your own decisions.

Quit being such a whiner and take responsibility for yourself and let others take respsonsibility for their own intellectual development.
Re: Snow Job | 10:19 a.m. June 17, 2009
The problem is not KBYU. The problem is PBS's general policy and the fact that they are subsidized by the government. You can stop donating to them yes, but they will still get your money through the government.
Re: Re: Establishment | 10:22 a.m. June 17, 2009
Government funding subsidizing religious broadcasts has nothing to do with "free excercise."

Also, I am willing to bet that a lot of those intellectuals whose arguments you can so easily deconstruct would hav quite a bit to say about how easily they would be able to argue against some of the ideas that you feel very strongly about.

Intellectualism does not mean that you have an argument that is complete and unassailable and bulletproof. It should however mean that you approach an issue openly, with willingness to accept whatever answer your study and research find. I accept that many "intellectuals" are at least as closeminded as many anti-intellectuals.

I get back to the academic issue. A lot of the programming that people take issue with on PBS is dedicated to academic pursuits. It is very difficult to approach religious matters from a truly academic standpoint because religion requires certain assumptions that are neither tangible nor provable. Therefore faith "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I am not saying there should be no religious programming. I appreciate the religious programming. I do however, question the legality of government funding for religious programming.
Darrell | 10:32 a.m. June 17, 2009
Re:@ Mike 7:14 am

Be honest...when was the last time you really watched Fox? Because, if you did you would see "liberals" on all of the time. In reality Fox is the only "fair and balanced" news outlet.

Anonymous | 10:54 a.m. June 17, 2009
PBS gets less than 10% of its funding from government. It's a real snow job to tell us that if PBS isn't supported locally the government will pay. When has a conservative been constrained by using facts?
Bill Moyers? | 11:13 a.m. June 17, 2009
Bill Moyers is not an intellectual. Neither is Charlie Rose or any of the other commentators on PBS. Have you ever listened to them? They are as liberal as it gets.
Re: Re: The shape of things to c | 11:26 a.m. June 17, 2009
I realize that my statement earlier was not overly concise and may not have been clear.

Regarding BYU Bilogy classes. My point was that there is no life science program at an accredited institution that will not at least in some way teach evoluton. If it is taught as only a "theory," or if it is taught as scientific fact, it is still taught. I was not making any implication that creationism is a half-truth, which I think may have been the respondent's concern. My point is that many scientific program that people watching KBYU could take issue with on a religious basis present information that is likewise presented in BYU classrooms.

As far as my statement on research and such. I hate the war between Science and Religion. My point is that evolutionary science is the result of a lot of intensive, painstaking research, that many academics believe points to certain conclusions. That same scientific process that people use to support evolution has been used to develop the wonderful technological resources we enjoy. We love science when it allows us to broadcast conference around the world, but we hate it when it challenges our beliefs.
Anonymous | 11:27 a.m. June 17, 2009
Be part of the PBS system, follow the rules. Don't want to, leave and deal with the consequences. Kind of like belonging to a particular church. Same principle.
Clarification | 11:43 a.m. June 17, 2009
My comments earlier were a bit vague.

Firstly, my comments about BYU Biology courses were based on the assumption that, even if it is taught as only a theory, evolution is taught in BYU classrooms. A lot of the scientific programming that people take issue with presents information that is being taught at BYU, which last I heard, was an accredited institution, therefore bound to certain academic standards.

Secondly, my comment about research and such was poorly stated. The same processes that many biologists have used to come to the conclusion that, in their opinion, based on their research, evolution is a reality, and the same processes by which geologists have determines such things as the age of the earth and some of the developmental processes, are the same processes that were used in the development of electronic technology that allows us to rage against scientific findings that challenge our beliefs.

I understand very little about God, or science, or the universe, or anything really. I am frustrated that we love science when it allows us to broadcast conference around the world, but we hate it when it challenges our beliefs, many of which we do not fully understand.
BigPoet | 12:03 p.m. June 17, 2009
Bill Moyers is a partisan. There can be no doubt about that. Other PBS programming clearly has a political bias.
re: WOW! | 12:10 p.m. June 17, 2009
yep! glad to know I'm not the only one! I used to get angry about the blatant mean-spiritedness on these message boards, now I come to be entertained by wild stretches of imagination and ridiculous thinking...
10% | 12:46 p.m. June 17, 2009
Do you think if the government withdrew its 10% of funding, any PBS station would be able to survive? PBS is available almost everywhere in this country for free with a regular antenna. I would imagine it is as pervasive as any of the four big commercial broadcast networks. Without government subsidies they would never have that kind of exposure, especially with the few people that actually watch it. Why should tax payer dollars be used to prop up such biased broadcasting?

I have no problem with the scientific broadcasting on PBS. It is a point of view and when it is supported with reliable sources I found it interesting and informative. My complaint is with the propaganda spewed by the left wing comments by radicals. Those views are not supported by scientific or intellectual reasoning.
BYU Biology | 1:26 p.m. June 17, 2009
Evolution is taught in BYU Biology Classes. When I was there it was taught as stridently as it would have been anywhere else. Never once did the professor say anything like "this may not be true, it's only a theory, but we have to teach it." In fact, he spoke about Charles Darwin with a tear in his eye. I'm not making that up.

I have a rough memory and understanding of the theory of evolution (I don't use biology in my career and it isn't a hobby, so I haven't kept up on it). I don't care whether it's the whole truth or not. It simply doesn't matter to me.

Just to be clear though, a BYU student taking a biology class is extremely unlikely to be taught "evolution lite." They get the same info taught at any other university in America.
Levin | 1:36 p.m. June 17, 2009
Haven't lived in Utah for a few years. Can someone explain why the Wasatch Front needs two PBS affiliates? I don't see what prevents KUED from being the PBS affiliate, and KBYU from being identical to or nearly identical to BYU-TV.
Mormon Okie | 2:03 p.m. June 17, 2009
As a practicing Latter-day Saint living outside of Utah, it's my belief that PBS and KBYU worked out the right solution.

While there may be some 'uptight' souls' who think KBYU should air solely religious programming, that's why BYU-TV and BYU-TV International were created.

The grandfather clause now in place allows KBYU to remain true to its roots, while putting in place appropriate secular programming. After all, true spirituality is a balance between the religious and the secular, and nowhere in America is it more sorely needed than in Utah.

If we're to work past hostilities existing within Utah's non-LDS population, we need some forward movement, without compromising our principles in the process. It's called living IN the world without being OF the world.

So before any of you decide to start a 'holy war' here, keep in mind that no one person or entity has a monopoly on either truth or virtue.

There is good in all the world...sometimes you have to look outside of either Utah, or the Church to find it.

Tim Rollins
Oklahoma City
RicoS | 2:37 p.m. June 17, 2009
Levin: Why, indeed, do markets such as New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Orlando, Denver, and Salt Lake City have two or more PBS member stations? It happens, I guess.
Re: Gay Marriage | 2:46 p.m. June 17, 2009
Let's see what would a conservative commentary on Gay marriage consist of? Oh, I know - AND GOD SAID THEIR SHALL BE NO SAME SEX MARRIAGE. The end.
Re: Re: Gay Marriage | 2:59 p.m. June 17, 2009
At least it would be to the point, without all the wailing and gnashing of teeth. And let's not forget the name calling. What would a liberal commentary be without the obligatory name calling.

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