My Letter to PBS Regarding a New York Times Article

Below is the post I submitted to a page at the PBS web site. Specifically, a comment section at the area devoted to The New Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Jim Lehrer invited us to read the New York Times article "Is PBS Still Necessary?"

Below is my attempt to write a brief letter to the crew at The News Hour and tell them, I am among many who very much think PBS is necessary.

Dear PBS, specifically Jim & Crew,

The short answer to the NYT insult article posing as an analysis, is "Yes, PBS is still relevant, continues to be relevant, and often sets the standard for which commercial broadcasts aim, but fall short."

Sincerely, NewOldSalt

The longer answer still begins with "yes".

One of the most annoying things to me when I watch "commercial" TV are fast scene cuts. It's like watching a strobe of photographs flash in staccato. I have nothing good to say about 99.99% of the advertisements, I pray for their souls, they are busy leading many people in to temptations for things they do not need, and in fact, are harmful.

The people who want to see the death of PBS are often the same people who are destroying the intentions of the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and many other of our founding documents. They view their deep pockets as a reflection of how great they are, and despise the widow who gave her last penny, and the organization that got it.

The writer points out that he has many other options available to him. Fine, he should watch them instead, and stop insulting you all. Not all of us can afford cable, and even when I could, I knew it wasn't worth it, PBS' offerings are so much better. I download and watch the video podcast of NBC Nightly News and it pales in comparison to The New Hour. I wish your show was also available as a video podcast. :-)

I would much rather see a whole hour about an interesting subject on NOVA, Frontline, National Geographic Specials, The News Hour, Bill Moyers, etc... than a three-to-five-sentence summary.

I love much of what PBS has done and would gladly work for them in any of many capacities, maybe this should not be a surprise since I graduated in education and think that is one of the most important aspects of life.

I was very happy to see (months ago) the show Jim hosted with regard to the public meetings discussing democracy and how our modern society could be viewed through our founding documents.

This last 4th of July I was overjoyed to see Gwen hosting, my favorite next to Jim, (and I love Margaret too!), but I was seriously bummed out and almost wrote y'all, about my sadness of the video you showed of the woman saying she felt so patriotic when she saw soldiers in uniform (paraphrasing).

For many decades I have done my best to read our founding documents on the 4th of July. If we, I feel, REALLY understood the 4th of July and the intentions behind it, there would be public readings of many of our founding documents on the 4th, and not the shooting of guns.

I feel certain various entities are against this as they would sense more of the population learning what our founding values are, including no ex post facto law making to protect the guilty.

But many people will ask, "What's 'ex post facto'?" So for decades I have desired to update the language of our founding documents. Recently I started.

I invite people to this web site where they can download both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. I have begun updating the language of the former only. I have put the documents in a few file formats, but my intention is for others to try their hand at updating the language, not to just blindly accept my version of the updated wording.

PBS is relevant.

The "founding fathers" did not pledge everything they did—to each other—so they could get rich, they made their pledges to each other for many of the same reasons PBS has in mind as they work to edify our country.

Keep up the good work.

Respectfully, NewOldSalt.