Once again, I give full props to those more prolific and thoughtful than moi than inspire musings on days when I struggle to do so. If you had any idea what kind of turmoil and angst I’m now dealing with–and it’s frankly too volatile and traumatic for even me to discuss publicly at this point–you would hopefully be able to cut me a tad more slack than usual.
So I proudly concede that yet again the masterful Rick Ellis of TOO MUCH TV gets full credit for the take he offered on yesterday’s news that in the wake of the recent capitulations via “inaugural contributions” of the likes of Amazon, Meta and Disney, not to mention the ongoing negotiations of Paramount Plus to join them, here comes yet another knee-bending media company:
According to a memo sent out on Monday by PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger, PBS is shutting down its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office and its diversity officers are leaving in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Here is the text of the announcement:
Dear Colleagues,
As we discussed at our recent Town Hall, since the President’s Executive Order about DEI was announced in January, we have been working with legal counsel to understand how this potentially affects our organization.
To ensure that we are complying with the President’s Executive Order we have closed our DEI office, and Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow are leaving PBS. I know you will join me in wishing them well in their future endeavors.
Our mission to educate, engage and inspire the wide variety of American communities we serve will continue to be at the center of our work, and we’ll also continue to ensure that PBS remains a welcoming place for everyone.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Ellis took her up on her offer as pointedly and methodically as any contributor to her network ever did:
Actually Paula, I do have some questions.
1) Has there been any indication from the Trump Administration that failing to make this move might impact the future of government funding for PBS and its stations? Or was this decision the result of concerns that might happen?
2) How was this decision communicated to PBS stations and are they expected to make similar moves with whatever DEI programs they might have on a local level?
3) Do you think this decision will have any impact on producers who might see this move as an indication that PBS is wavering on its commitment to diversity?
4) Have you and the lawyers at PBS given any thought to what your reaction might be if the Trump Administration ties other demands to continued government funding?
5) Do you have a red line for demands? Is there a point at which you make the determination that you can’t agree to a demand, even if it means losing the 15% of the PBS budget that comes from government funding?
6) Are they any programs that are currently airing that give you pause in this new environment, or ideas in the planning stage that you are concerned might draw the anger of the Trump Administration?
And as he frequently does, Ellis triggered a few of my own. Most prominently, is all of this far too little and much too late to actually matter?
After all, it’s been well documented that a certain trillionaire with his head buried deeply up Fat Orange Jesus’ gas-infused behind already has a Jones for them. As Benjamin Mullin and Kate Conger observed on Representative Scott Perry’s website just before Christmas:
Elon Musk is gunning for public media. In his new role advising President-elect Donald J. Trump, Mr. Musk has floated sweeping cuts to the federal government, including the elimination of entire departments and the firing of agency leaders. One of the most concrete proposals on his list is eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding that the government funnels to PBS and NPR stations, home to cultural touchstones like Elmo, Big Bird and “Fresh Air.”
And yet another barnacle on the great ship of American leadership has joined in, as INSIDE CONGRESS LIVE’s Katherine Tully-McManus observed last week:
The new House subcommittee designed to complement the work of Elon Musk has named its first target: the nonprofit news media. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s “Delivering on Government Efficiency” Subcommittee — or DOGE, mimicking its Musk-run analogue, the Department of Government Efficiency — is asking the leaders of PBS and NPR to testify next month.
DOGE Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, put out the request to the executives in a letter Monday morning, specifying a preference for the weeks of March 3 or March 24.
“As an organization that receives federal funds, both directly and indirectly through its member stations, NPR’s reporting should serve the entire public, not just a narrow slice of likeminded individuals and ideological interest groups,” Greene wrote in her Monday letter sent to NPR CEO Katherine Maher, with nearly identical language sent to PBS. In her letter to PBS CEO Paula Kerger, Greene pointed to PBS reporting last month saying the billionaire and DOGE co-founder Musk “gave what appeared to be a fascist salute” at President Donald Trump’s inauguration celebration — a characterization that Greene alleges “was clearly false.”
Perhaps the only unbiased defense that Kerger can offer up is that, more than ever, the size of the impact of such an egregious slight is arguably as minimal as it’s ever been. As a theoretically advertiser-free entity (sponsorships and endowments technically don’t count), national ratings information for PBS isn’t easy to come by, but PEW Research Center did document Nielsen information supplied by PBS’ signature NEWSHOUR that its audience has declined -21% between 2017 (1.187M) and 2022 (882K). And the website TELEVISION STATS, using an ambiguous measurement of online popularity relative to other measured shows, published real time this morning that has last night’s episode ranked #2341–more than four times weaker than the #567 ranking it managed exactly one year ago.
And judging by the top trending programs that currently have the priority tiles on PBS.org, it’s pretty obvious that the demographic skew is more in the neighborhood of Trump as opposed to Greene and Musk. I mean, ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, NATURE and FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. don’t seem to scream advertiser-friendly, do they?
So sorry, it’s hard for me to be optimistic about the future of public television even if Kruger wasn’t following the lead of other legacy media and genuflecting to the bully pulpit that is today’s Washington. They’ve got far bigger problems than mere street cred, and those damn tote bags they reward their contributors with have somehow gotten smaller and flimsier over the years. Not to mention a little redundant. They might need to jazz up the variety and quality of their swag.
Hmmm…I hear there’s a few new ideas being offered up on Yeezy.com. Maybe something in the vein of that snazzy number on the right might attract a few more donors? Assuming, of course, Kruger’s programming devolves to the level that her corporate commitment did yesterday.
And if you happen to be disgusted enough–or merely tired of tote bags–to be seeking a new place to throw a few spare bucks for a contribution, might I offer up you support Ellis’ work? Or, for that matter, mine?
Until next time…