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Re:Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV by iamnothere on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @04:56PM (#21819364)
Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet. Not that a national PBS would necessarily be like that, but it has happened in many other countries, and it's a valid concern.

Edit: there are a number of other reasons as well, including the difficulty of coordinating national broadcasts at the time that PBS was founded. Major networks were once also primarily driven by local affiliates, with some differences in local programming. The US is a big place.

Re:Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV by heavyset_go on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @05:26PM (#21819610)
> Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet

This exists[1], but it isn't PBS.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

Re:Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV by iamnothere on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @10:09PM (#21821417)
It's not aimed at a domestic audience, and until recently this was enforced by law. VOA is also explicitly propaganda, at least under Bernays's more neutral definition of propaganda: it is intended to influence foreign populations to view the US in a favorable light, using what VOA considers to be the most accurate point of view.

Propaganda isn't just Soviet posters describing the abundant harvest. Any widely broadcast messages with an explicit goal to influence populations, even if the messages are accurate, is propaganda.

The recasting of propaganda as "evil lies" (or "fake news") has poisoned the well when it comes to discussion of accurate propaganda, which still exists and is in use every day.

Re:Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV by paganel on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @05:29PM (#21819641)
There's also Radio Free Europe [1], but I don't think that's what the OP had in mind, as neither BoA nor Radio Free Europe broadcast in the US afaik.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Libert...

Re:Over 100 PBS local stations start streaming on YouTube TV by TurkishPoptart on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @05:22PM (#21819558)
>Many Americans don't like the idea of a national state-funded propaganda outlet.

Not if you frame it like that, no.