This program touched on so many issues facing media today, that it would be impossible to give an adequate summary right now, but I do have a couple of quick thoughts reacting to last night's broadcast.
1.) How absurd is it that the United States big media companies will not air Al Jazeera English, and give Americans a glimpse of another viewpoint and another culture? Ignorance is far more sinister when it is self-imposed.
2.) While newspapers and magazines continue to face cuts, PBS has again showed us why public broadcasting is so important, and why we ought to provide more funding to it. From a piece I wrote at The Globe.
In the United States about $1.70 of the average person's annual taxes goes towards public broadcasting. To put this into perspective, the average American spends $33 of thier taxes on pork barrel spending.
If we hope get information ... we ought to consider putting more money into public broadcasting.
And the public agrees.
