Quen the Paladin

PBS and NPR were never beholden to the US government.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was created so that the US government could fund public media without public media being influenced by the government. It was a private non-profit funded by the government, not a part of the government itself. This is by design. This was a good thing. It meant that even small local TV and radio stations, could afford to create media for the public good, without government influence.

This meant TV and radio stations for poor communities. For non-english speaking communities. For rural communities. For minorities. It meant that free and accessible media could be created for everyone, even if the government didn't like it.

That's why conservatives defunded it.

Because if they couldn't control it, and if it helped the people they hated, then they would have to destroy it. Do you really think that a fascist government would defund their own propaganda machine?

Not only is the idea that PBS before being defunded was propaganda wrong, but ignores the fact that defunding it is going to have long-term negative effects on vulnerable communities.

So, I think there are some important things I should address.

First: The show in question, PBS Origins, has been running since 2017. They have been focusing on these sorts of topics the entire time. This is not the first time the channel has discussed the US government's role in genocide and slavery. It's not the first time it has criticized the US government. It is also not the only shown on PBS to have ever done so.

Second: People have considered PBS and NPR to have a left-wing bias for a long time, even before it was defunded. That's why conservatives wanted it defunded, and why they had been trying to defund it for decades.

Third: PBS and NPR did a lot more than history and politics. Weather reports, local news, children's programming, cooking shows... Something like PBS Origins, even an episode as provocative as the one in the OP, would pass under the radar of most people, especially because it doesn't usually play on TV. (It's made primarily for YouTube)

Third: Defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was not an easy task. It took decades to finally pass a bill doing so. It was not something the government could just do at the drop of a hat if PBS did something the current government didn't like.

Friendly reminder as we get closer to the launch of the ModRetro M64. ModRetro is owned by Palmer Lucky, a self described “Radical Zionist” who fundraises for Donald Trump.

Palmer Lucky also has another company, called Anduril Industries, that manufactures and sells AI powered weapons and surveillance systems. ModRetro even sells Anduril branded gameboys that were made from the same metal that they use to manufacture attack drones.

They seem to be pushing the fact that there are new Nintendo64 games being made for the M64. This is very misleading because any game that runs on the M64 will run on a real Nintendo 64.

In the early 2000s, vulture populations in Asia began to crash for no apparent reason. It was eventually discovered that a drug veterinarians used to treat cattle was highly toxic to vultures and poisoning them when they fed on cattle carcasses. The governments of India, Pakistan, and Nepal all worked to ban the toxic drug and support vulture conservation programs.

North Sulawesi babirusa (Babyrousa celebensis)

“Babirusa” by Hans De Bisschop, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0