There's an important distinction between https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_broadcasting and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_media though. I'm pretty into the former but share your distaste for the latter.

From a practical perspective I completely agree, but my nightmare scenario for PBS isn't seeing it defunded, but seeing it lose some or all editorial control. That scenario seems very unlikely at present, but not impossible. I just wanted to point out that it's not a completely unreasonable case to make.

I certainly believe people who say they want to cut PBS simply because they don't like it, or don't see it as the government's province. But in the context of trying to balance the federal budget over time, PBS is beyond a micro-optimiziation (if, indeed, it would not actually backfire in the long term). I'm willing to assume that anyone who puts it on their shortlist is being disingenuous about their motives.

I see media as being at least partly behind this. They can't advertise toys and games to kids on PBS. Regardless of how much time kids spend watching ads on non-PBS channels, there could always be more. The broadcaster hunger for these ad dollars can't be greater than now, when kids and their parents have other media vying for control of their time (internet video, I'm looking at you). It's completely in the wheelhouse of broadcasters and cable providers to try to meddle with policy through lobbying and strategic placement in policymaking positions. If only our government were transparent enough to follow the money...