Racial Division, Made Possible by Viewers Like You - Note for a discussion, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United."

Howard Husock, Wall Street Journal

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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is pushing identity politics—except at pledge time.

Excerpt:

It’s no secret that NPR [see] and PBS [see] lean liberal. Less appreciated is the extent to which Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) [see] grants are organized around an idea central to the modern Democratic Party: identity politics. ...

[M]illions go to nonfiction documentary programming made by independent producers, and that’s where the focus on identity politics becomes clear. The corporation provides grant support to five so-called minority consortia, including African-American, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander groups, as well as Alaska natives. ...

Those who commission such programs are committed to a deeply embedded ideology. They see American history, politics and culture predominantly through a prism of race and gender. Millions of Americans share this view, but millions more look at the country’s past and present in an entirely different way. ...

If Congress does decide to continue to provide federal support for “public media,” the criteria by which funds are distributed should be re-examined. Far better for public broadcasting, whether funded publicly or privately, to be a unifying force in America rather than a divisive one. [JB emphasis]