>>but today we have TLC, the Discovery Channel, The History
>>Channel, The National Geographic Chanel, etc.
>
>None of these replace Sesame Street for young kids along with
>
>Arthur
>Barney
>Berenstain Bears
>Between the Lions
>Boohbah
>Caillou
>Clifford
>Cyberchase
>Dragon Tales
>George Shrinks
>Maya & Miguel
>Mister Rogers
>Postcards from Buster
>Reading Rainbow
>Sagwa
>Sesame Street
>Teletubbies
>ZOOM

what's your point? are these shows somehow better than others? Nickelodeon has Little Bill, Dora the Explorer, and Blues Clues. Cartoon Disney runs young children's programming all morning, which is also has no commercials during the shows like PBS. These shows have talk about all the same things that the shows on PBS talk about. People think that PBS's education programming is superior because of nostaligia. When we were growing up, that was the only educational children's programming out there, today, that's not the case.

>Nickelodeon has given PBS competition but with all the
>commercials I begin to wonder whether it's kids or $$$ that
>mean the most to Nick programmers. At least with Sesame
>Street my mother did not have to worry about me watching ads.

PBS got commercials too, they're just before and after the shows, instead of in the middle.

>>We have 4
>>networks that only show news. We have plenty of options for
>>children's programming.
>
>Owned and controlled by whom?

Evil, corrupt, greedy corporations. Who is PBS controlled by? The Government, who, i'm sure you'll agree, is controlled by evil, corrupt, greed corporations.

>It's not just NPR that is in jeopardy...so is the NEA and
>without this fund we would never have had Alvin Ailey or any
>of the arts programming that is critical to creating a balance
>in learning and sustaining culture.

I agree that we should have the NEA, but that's seperate from the present issue.

>What we have now is a "...modern information environment that
>stem from government- or corporate-dominated, hierarchical
>media." - http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/index.html

That's what's great about the internet, it's an alternative media. Any and every perspective you can imagine is represented on the internet.

>These entities do not always make decisions in the public's
>best interest. It's (fill in the blank) for profit but there
>is value in the voices of those not often represented in
>mainstream media. In the past, public media has represented
>these voices.

But PBS was created when there were only a few options on T.V. Now we have hundreds of options on T.V., many doing what PBS is doing, and countless options on the internet. PBS may have been necessary at one time, but i'm not sure it's necessary anymore.


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For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18