dagblog - Comments for "A Word from Our Sponsor"

I enjoy Bill Moyers and

trkingmomoe — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:17:11 +0000

In reply to All I got is that I grew up

I enjoy Bill Moyers and always have. I rewatch his shows on the internet. I also am hooked on British period costume dramas. I hope I get to see Citizen Koch and will pay to do so. I hope the Koch brothers don't live as long as Pete Peterson.

They are used to being

trkingmomoe — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:08:21 +0000

In reply to I was able to listen to the

They are used to being catered to and think they are owed it. I think Ann Romney was a good example of that. Fund raisers always kiss up to the rich. To be truthfull I don't like to see David and Charles Koch in large letters before Nova and other shows on PBS. All it does is reminds me of how much damage they are doing. NPR has for the last several years moved to the right in order to keep the funding coming in.

I was hoping Diane or the

NCD — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:58:28 +0000

In reply to Sure he didn't expect any

I was hoping Diane or the guest would note that claiming innocence and personal virtue by recalling your supposedly noble lack of 'expectations' is total bullshit.

Sure he didn't expect any

AmericanDreamer — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:44:08 +0000

In reply to I was able to listen to the

Sure he didn't expect any special treatment. It's just that when the station aired a piece that, lo and behold, was (!) critical of him, making special treatment attempts surrounding the airing of the show to placate him out of concern that he might otherwise pull his funding, he... pulled his funding.

So no, of course he didn't expect special treatment. Given these facts as reported by Mayer, how could anyone think that?

I was able to listen to the

NCD — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:46:49 +0000

In reply to From the article Shapiro

I was able to listen to the Diane Rehm show on the New Yorker article, and she read a statement from a Koch PR person saying Koch and/or Koch Inc 'didn't expect special treatment when they donated the money to PBS'.

Diane seemed to naively believe that proved innocence and high morals on their part. As if 'expecting special treatment' means jackshit when they in fact 'received special treatment'. Follow the money, the dollar rules in America.

All I got is that I grew up

Richard Day — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:58:58 +0000

In reply to A Word from Our Sponsor

All I got is that I grew up with PBS; decades ago it was a local University channel.

We still receive such fine educational docs as well as wonderful, wonderful series created mostly in GB.

And BILL MOYERS IS BACK!

Take that you Kocks!

Bill Moyers is Back!

From the article Shapiro

AmericanDreamer — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:02:17 +0000

In reply to A Word from Our Sponsor

From the article

Shapiro said that, in the end, he was comfortable with the journalistic standards of “Park Avenue,” and noted that he’d heard many positive comments from viewers, as well as negative ones. (The broadcast received high ratings for a PBS documentary.) But he said he felt blindsided by the Independent Television Service—the small arm of public television that funds and distributes independent films—for not giving him sufficient advance warning of the documentary’s contents.

And if ITVS had given Shapiro sufficient advance warning of the documentary's contents? What would Shapiro have done differently?

This is what happens when we have the degree of differences in wealth, and the extreme social and political inequality, we have in this country. People who share the views and values of the Koch brothers are able to keep public funding of what is described as "public" TV to a minimum, partly to keep their taxes low, partly so they have opportunity to gain special privileges over its contents by giving a tiny pittance of their wealth to it.

The sense of entitlement and arrogance is extraordinary. How *dare* any media outlet that I fund portray me in a way that is critical!! I own the damned ("public" TV!) station!!! (And never mind that I haven't actually watched the film. I don't need to, you see.) It makes a mockery of the idea, which not a soul that I know can hear without laughing or shaking their head in dismay, that in what we like to tell ourselves is somehow a "democracy" beyond being a republic, outsized influence is not supposed to be purchasable. Which, as one of its producers said, apparently is precisely the point of the movie.

A few people at the top have wildly disproportionate influence and are able to exempt themselves from any kind of accountability to their fellow citizens through an unrigged political system. They believe, it appears, that the rest of us should simply bow down and kiss their feet. They confuse deep resentment, anger, and moral revulsion towards them on the part of growing numbers of their fellow citizens with some sort of incomprehensible, and deeply ungrateful, hatred.

To those who say they have no issue with a system that permits people to accumulate as much wealth as the Kochs or the Walton family or Gates, that the issue is solely one of too many people at the bottom not having necessities, and so what is the problem with those at the top end having what Koch and Walton and Gates have?--well, here is one of them. Corrupted media and culture, beyond the corruption of the political system. Yes, NYC PBS did air the film. But look what else happened, that we know about, that is. And how can instances such as this not have the effect going forward of self-censorship by NYC PBS or, as apparently has already happened, by ITVS--or else diminishing resources and commitment necessary to run a quality, independent network?

Thanks for sharing.

Koch and the GOP want to cut

NCD — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:20:34 +0000

In reply to A Word from Our Sponsor

Koch and the GOP want to cut public funding of Public TV/Radio for the same reason they want to turn Social Security over to Wall Street. They want to own and control it all, including the lives of each and every 'moocher' in the county, meaning anyone not as rich as them

You may also want to go to

trkingmomoe — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:25:17 +0000

In reply to A Word from Our Sponsor

You may also want to go to the "Citizen Koch" web site. They plan to bring this film to the movie theaters. http://www.citizenkoch.com/

Here is the trailer of

trkingmomoe — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:14:47 +0000

In reply to A Word from Our Sponsor

Here is the trailer of "Citizen Koch" about all the money that was spent in WI because of Citizen United.