Months after President Donald Trump successfully removed all federal funding for public broadcasting in the United States, Sunday’s launch of Ken Burns’ new PBS series “The American Revolution” serves as an eye-catching message.
We are still here,” is the plain message. The documentary, which will run for six nights in a row, is “a massive moment” for PBS, according to CEO Paula Kerger. Trump’s drive to defund public media has led to some confusion in the marketplace.
People thought that meant that we were gone, according to Kerger, as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is winding down as a result of the funding cut. But “The American Revolution’s” massive, noisy marketing effort is showing otherwise.
The public television system is still in place and can still produce moments the size of HBO and Netflix, like the most recent from Burns, despite painful layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. In December 2015, with 13 months remaining in Barack Obama’s presidency, we started this,” Burns told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “During this period, there has been a lot of water under the American bridge.”
Trump frequently suggested cutting funding for the CPB during his first term in office, but congressional Republicans kept the money in place, partly to safeguard the local stations that cater to their residents.
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