PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a nonprofit public broadcasting network that was founded in the United States in 1969. PBS has no central production or news division, and public television stations are horizontally networked so that each autonomous station determines its own programming. The Public Broadcasting Service is a community-centered and anticommercial media enterprise operated by 86 nonprofit community organizations, 57 universities, 20 state authorities, and 6 local educational authorities in the United States.

PBS has a number of partnerships with nonprofit organizations such as America's Public Television Station (APTS), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), National Public Broadcasting Archives (NPBA), National Public Radio (NPR), and Public Radio International (PRI). These partner affiliations provide financial and nonfinancial resources as well as supports for quality programming. PBS has 349 public TV member stations throughout the United States. Although each member station that supplies PBS programs does not have the right to broadcast them, it does have the right to sell its programs in the form of nonbroadcast media such as books, DVDs, and other merchandise.

PBS goals are to provide objective information to all U.S. citizens equally by cooperating with member stations and upholding media ethics for American public and media producers. It provides communication standards and policies for media producers, determines whether programs are appropriate for public TV, and distributes and schedules programs that meet the standards to its member stations and other media corporations.

PBS is well known for its objective educational programs. PBS TeacherSource helps pre-K–12 educators learn more about efficient teaching methods. PBS TeacherLine provides professional courses and classroom lessons in reading, mathematics, science, and technology, among other subjects. Such programs prove useful for teachers and home-schooled students. PBS programs also focus on politics, science, the arts, and film. Station WGBH is one of the largest producers of educational programs, with WETA-TV and WPBT producing news programs, and WNET producing interview shows. These programs are sent to PBS, which reorganizes and schedules them for broadcasting.

PBS also contributes to media liberalism. Unlike cable or satellite TV, PBS opens its programs to public access despite the fact that it only has three to four different signals. Its programs are carefully evaluated under stricter standards and regulations than those for cable and satellite TV programs. To uphold the standards of the Public Broadcasting Act, which states that public TV programs should be politically fair, accurate, and ethically neutral, PBS tries to remain independent of political pressures and funding sources. Studies [Page 540]show that compared to other media corporations, PBS programs are more professionally produced, cover many different viewpoints, and offer more educational and enlightening shows to provide audiences with useful and varying information sources. Individual member stations are often innovative and diverse in their programming to meet local needs and interests.

PBS also provides a regular evening national newscast, the 1-hour-long NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Although the show traditionally has the lowest audience of any regular network newscast, the program has a regular following, and Jim Lehrer is considered a professional and respected journalist.

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