Governor Kay Ivey is trying to argue that Alabama Public Television (APT) needs to pump the breaks when it comes to cutting ties with PBS.
While I understand Ivey wants to make sure there’s a thorough review process before any split happens, I also can’t come up with a single reason to keep them around.
Ivey said in her letter to APT that she has “worked hard to promote and defend Alabama values from standing up for the sanctity of human life and our rights to religious liberty to standing against DEI, CRT, and boys playing girls’ sports. For the sake of our people, it is imperative that APT’s programming align with Alabama values.”
If you want to fight against radical woke ideologies, then there is no way you can argue to keep one of the worst outlets that has pushed it on Alabamians for years.
Let’s just start with the nonsense PBS pushed on their so-called news programs.
For example, in 2015 Frontline did a documentary following eight transgender-identifying kids and their families, including discussions of puberty blockers and medical transition decisions. The show was basically a push to normalize the transgender madness.
PBS’s flagship nightly newscast, NewsHour, has also been at the forefront of labeling anything deemed conservative as just “far right.”
In 2024, The Media Research Center analyzed PBS NewsHour and found the show used labels like “far-right,” “extreme right,” “hard-right” for Republicans and conservative causes 162 times, while using any equivalent label for the left only six times over 18 months — a 27:1 ratio.
It gets even worse when you look at the woke junk they’ve been pushing to kids.
For example, in 2020 on the PBS/Amazon Clifford reboot, Emily Elizabeth’s friend Samantha has two moms who appear as a recurring same-sex couple.
This one really upsets me as my young daughter loves Clifford — but we only watch the 90s-version in my house.
Also in 2019 on the children’s show Arthur, episode “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone” shows Arthur’s teacher marrying another male character.
Alabama Public Television itself actually refused to air that episode and chose to run a rerun instead.
Not to mention all the times Sesame Street social media accounts thought it was a good idea to promote gay pride month.
Even APT executive director Wayne Reid and network director of external affairs Jack Williams have admitted that the Leftist bias at NPR and PBS has been a growing problem for years.
“[E]ver since I came on and we would go to national meetings, one of the things we took to the leadership at NPR and at PBS at every meeting that we went to is we have biased issues and we have bias problems,” Reid said.
“And it’s whether they’re in their echo chamber up in New York or Washington, and they kind of listen to each other and say, ‘no, we’re not.’ But the problem is, there was a lot of states that would say there’s problems that we need to get fixed. And we have pushed that from the state level of Alabama and a lot of other states for several years now, since I’ve been here. And Jack started that crusade even before I did.”
Look, I’m sure PBS offers some good shows.
I’ve heard good things about Ken Burns’ new documentary on the American Revolution. But if you are really desperate to watch those programs, you can find them online.
I think there’s an argument to get rid of public television entirely. It doesn’t seem like the best use of taxpayer dollars.
But if we’re going to have it, then at the very least it should reflect the values of the Yellowhammer State.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
