No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS

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What would Alabama Public Television be without programming from PBS? What would air and stream in place of Sesame Street, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, NOVA, and PBS News Hour?

The Alabama Educational Television Commission will meet on November 18 to discuss a series of options that could lead to a complete disaffiliation from PBS. With the network providing more than 90% of APT’s programming, the move would lead to a complete overhaul of the state’s public television and online offerings.

Two reasons

Ferris Stephens is the chairman of the commission, which holds APT’s broadcast license. In a recent interview, he said there are two interrelated reasons behind the potential break with the network.

One is that APT has to find ways to cut its budget, due to the Trump administration slashing all federal funding for public broadcasting earlier this summer. Stephens noted APT has had to cut its budget in several ways.

“Unfortunately, we had 11 people that we had to let go, because there were no funds,” he said.

The other reason is because President Donald Trump ran on the promise he would defund public media.

“The overwhelming majority of Alabamians – 65% – voted for him,” he said. “So those are the things we have to consider as well.”

Meaning APT, as a state agency, should follow the lead of the president and the majority of Alabama voters.

Trump cut funding to PBS, as well as NPR – the network with which WBHM is affiliated – because he sees the networks’ news coverage as unfair. In an executive order from May, the White House made that clear, stating that neither PBS nor NPR presents a “fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

The ’Golden Rule’

Alaina Bookman is a Birmingham metro reporter for al.com. She attended and reported on the full commission’s most recent meeting on October 28, during which disaffiliation was discussed.  

She said that some commissioners noted in the meeting their agreement with the president.

“There was absolutely some mention of perceived bias,” she said. “Les Barnett did very outrightly call PBS – he said that ‘PBS has made themselves the enemy.’”

Les Barnett is another commissioner. He’s also served in various leadership positions for the Alabama GOP. While he allowed WBHM to interview him earlier this week, he declined to allow that interview to be recorded.

In that interview, Barnett did not deny Bookman’s account of the meeting. He said he believes PBS “decided to be opposed to what most of the people in Alabama believe.”

Like Stephens, he noted Trump’s promise to do away with federal funding of public media, and since a majority of the people of Alabama voted for Trump, severing ties with PBS is a logical step for the APT board.

As Barnett asked in the interview with WBHM, “Have you ever heard of the ‘Golden Rule?’” He then explained, “The man with the gold makes the rules.”

‘A big mistake’

Bookman said there were commissioners at the meeting either opposed to cutting ties with PBS or who wanted to find a potential compromise. They were also, Bookman said, not aware that disaffiliation would be discussed in last week’s meeting, at least not as an official action item.

One of those commissioners was Pete Conroy. He told WBHM he’s concerned there’s a rush to making a decision.

“I had hoped that we could have postponed the decision to May,” he said. “We need to poll the people of the state Alabama. We need to talk to our legislators and the governor’s office.”

There’s even discussion by some commissioners of not paying the next bill from PBS, which is due at the end of this month. Conroy says there could be legal ramifications if APT exits its contract before the current agreement expires at the end of next June.

“To do anything radical like sever the ties, not pay off our contract, would be premature and in my mind a big mistake,” Conroy said.

Critical resource for all

Kim Hays agrees with Conroy. She’s a biology professor, who grew up in rural Alabama.

She had heard of the possible disaffiliation and decided to weigh in. So, she wrote and sent a letter to the APT commissioners. As she told WBHM in a recent interview, she gives a lot of credit to APT and PBS for helping her find herself.

“We didn’t have a lot of financial resources in the school district,” she said of where she attended. “We didn’t have a lot of extras and enrichment activities. So, PBS programming on APT was how I was able to explore the world.”

She said shows like Sesame Street, NOVA and Carmen Sandiego are a critical resource for the state, especially for those living without much disposable income.

“Shows like that were how I got to learn a lot of different things, and it didn’t cost us money to do that,” Hays said. “It’s invaluable for the citizens of Alabama, and it still plays a part in helping Alabama move forward educationally, [in terms of] employment, and economically.”

The idea that such programming is on the cutting block because of politics is wrong, she said.

“To make something like public television or public radio or the news media become … a political pawn is really frustrating to me, because it means that people may lose access to a resource that means a lot,” she said.

À la carte

Stephens and Barnett say the commission is also interested in what they call an ala carte option from PBS. In other words, they propose the network allow APT to only pay for a certain slate of programs. It’s not clear if that is possible.

Stephens mentioned the PBS News Hour, as a program he does not want to run on APT, because of what he believes is a left-leaning political bias.

“Some of the rub, as probably people have figured out, is the coverage on the News Hour and other news shows,” Stephens said. “And it’s been highly opinionated … those are not fair. And why are we having public money pay for them?”

As an example, Stephens noted the News Hour‘s coverage of the congressional hearings about federal funding for PBS and NPR. While he didn’t go into specifics, he felt the coverage was highly biased on the side of public media.

“So, when people actually saw the congressional hearings a few months ago, I think that really exacerbated the problem,” he said.

It’s not that easy

Stephens said he doesn’t anticipate a vote in the November 18 meeting, because there’s too much to do before a decision can be made.

However, APT Executive Director Wayne Reid said there’s been a push to make that decision as soon as the new year. Even that timeline, he said, is extremely ambitious.

“I think our timeline of 2 months to 90 days is going to be extremely tough to do, just because of some logistics of building a website and the storage of the media player and the media library,” Reid said.

Then, without PBS, there’s the question of what programs APT would carry. Reid confirmed PBS provides roughly 90% of APT’s content. 

“Programming by far is the biggest thing that we would have to deal with,” he said.

A history of friction

According to Alabama officials, APT was the first state educational television network in the country, with roots going back to 1955. Its work with PBS stems back to 1970, making the two seem practically one in the Yellowhammer State. 

But this isn’t the first dispute between the two entities. According to a reference in APT’s Wikipedia page, the Alabama Education Television Commission had its license briefly revoked in the mid-1970s for refusing to air programs about the Vietnam War and the Black community. More recently, in 2019, APT refused to air an episode of the children’s program Arthur, because it included a same-sex marriage.

Like Waffle House

Even with that past friction, Conroy said it’s hard to imagine an APT without a PBS.

“It’s like Waffle House not serving breakfast. Alabama Public Television and PBS – it’s just they go together, and it’s what people come for.”

As it’s now scheduled, APT will discuss possible disaffiliation with PBS on November 18, at its headquarters near the Five Points South neighborhood in Birmingham. However, Conroy and others are hoping the commission will move the meeting to a site that will accommodate what is expected to be a larger-than-normal audience.

In the meantime, interested parties can send feedback in the comments section on the APT website.