Opinion: Public Television No Longer Relevant

The Public Television Service has failed to keep up with the times, making it hard to get upset about the Bush administration’s efforts to make cutbacks in federal subsidies for the television system, writes Charles McGrath in a front-page article in the Sunday “Arts and Leisure” section of The New York Times.

Public television, he says, “more and more resembles everything else on TV.” He adds: “Since corporate sponsors were allowed to extend their “credit” announcements to 30 seconds, commercials in all but name have been a regular feature on public television, and that’s not to mention pledge programs, the fund-raising equivalent of waterboarding.”

Public radio, by contrast, he says, has done much better in making changes to keep relevant. “By not trolling after ratings, it has managed to stay distinctive,” he says.

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