Public broadcast funding and the Wikileaks culture

Sure Sesame street will do fine w/ corporate sponsers. Big Bird can do a slot for BP and Burt & Ernie can pitch Merrill Lynch instead of the letter "G" (for greed),

I don't claim the people have any inherent right to know coke's secret formula. Coke has the right to try to keep its secret. The people have to right to try to figure it out or discover it by legal means.

And it's clearly a public good for the secret to be revealed, though granted it's a trivial good. FWIW, I'm not that interested in whether that public good amounts to to a defense of what PBS did, or whether public funding somehow precludes them from that pursuit. Or whether that pursuit ought to disqualify them from public funding.

But there are probably lots of people who are glad that the recipe for coke is now known. And if it means that after a century we finally all get to drink coke without paying an exclusivity premium, that works for me.

But they don't have a right, and nobody suggested that they do, to stop others from using the formula if, through no misdeeds of the others, the formula becomes known.

So then do you think that Coke has the right to stop others from using the formula if it's revealed via a misdeed (like disclosure by someone who agreed never to disclose). Or would you that that while the misdeed merits punishment, once the cat is out of the bag, it's out of the bag?

I'm not asking so as to trap anyone or to defend anyone's actions, I'm just asking out of curiosity about the law. It seems like a pandora's box situation plus a catch-22. Revealed is revealed, regardless of method. Once a secret is out, can the law make it be "back in?" Are we all supposed to pretend? Seems impractical, even silly.

Maybe. My hypothesis is sort of that if the coke recipe were known, generic cola would taste better.

But maybe not. It's also possible that the generic makers can only sell their cola for less than coke by cutting corners on some of the things that makes coke taste good.

I have my doubts though. My sense is that marketing costs add substantially to coke's price. Which means that someone else should be able to undercut them, at least in theory.

I still have problems seeing where this is a "bad expenditure"? It is an entertainment program. It did some research and found and obsolete version of Coca-Cola. It just kind of tweaks at the idea of secret formulas. It is still not the current formula and Pepsi or anyone else can get a much better idea of what is in Coke through science.

As far as cutting, I have no problem with cutting CPB funding. I would go a bit further and cut military advertising for a year too. That was $600M in 2007 based on the last number I saw. I doubt it has gone down. At least cut it in half since the military is currently having no problem reaching its goals due to the bad economy. That would still be more than CPB gets a year. There are so many sacred cows out there. Ag subsidies and foreign aid. But, I still contend you can't be serious unless DOD is on the table because there is no bigger bloat and bureaucracy in government that this time. There is probably $100B alone in the DOD's budget that could be chopped in duplicated services between branches.

CPB is small potatoes and is only on the pike because it is low hanging fruit that will piss off the other side. Look, just make real arguments and don't manufacture fake outrage. Say that CPB needs to go and stand by it.

I'm not sure it's all that difficult. I have several left-leaning friends who fire off monthly emails to NPR for a perceived right-leaning perspective in specific stories. In my opinion, the news fairly presents both sides. Why do you think differently?

Obviously the entertainment and cultural programming appeals to liberals but that's another story.

Regarding your second paragraph, I think the difference is subtle but present in the context of your post. If NPR News was using it's resources to tirelessly seek Coke's recipe, or find out what celebrity is in rehab, or other vacuous pursuits - I, too, would question my support. But they don't, and they didn't buy This American Life because they were the highest bidder in a tabloid war for Coke's recipe. They buy it because it consistently offers quality programming about all aspects of (...uh) this American life, like Coke.