Editorial: Ignorance vaunted

One of our visions of Hell involves Iowa PBS running programs about the British monarchy in a constant loop interspersed with episodes of Antiques Roadshow. We joke. We love public broadcasting. We learned about Iowa by watching Mary Jane Odell’s sophisticated talk show, an Algona native who went on to serve as Republican secretary of state. We learned to write to the ear with the help of Garrison Keillor on public radio. We celebrated the Newell-Fonda girls cutting down the nets at State on public TV. Then there was the enchanting brogue of Fiona Ritchie playing Celtic music on Thistle and Shamrock, and the inveterate rock-n-roller Bob Dorr on Sundays from Cedar Falls.

Most of all, we are grateful that the PBS series “Independent Lens” pulled our fat from the fire during the pandemic for broadcasting the feature-length documentary “Storm Lake.” Donations from that movie kept us afloat during the worst of times. We have been fortunate to appear on public radio and TV.

We used to grumble during Pledge Week that they get government support while we get peanuts. The postal service is shoving another rate increase at us — so much for Ben Franklin’s idea that the government should support a free and independent press. We got over that a long time ago. There is more government propaganda on Fox News than there ever was on PBS.

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes kept us alive mentally in the dregs of winter. Inspector Morse was one heck of an alcoholic addicted to opera. We got turned on to Lyle Lovett by “Austin City Limits.” Charity Nebbe showed us that you can grow something other than corn and beans here.

All good. Worth your support. There will be no “Frontline,” no “Independent Lens?” No more state wrestling live? That’s what they’re saying.

President Trump and Congress are fixing to eliminate support for public broadcasting just when Iowa needs it most to find center again.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” Trump declared.

Girls basketball is not corrosive. Maggie Smith is not subversive on Downton Abbey. Judy Woodruff of the NewsHour is not fake.

Iowa needs a common forum more than ever. Public television, radio and their digital sites could be that civic square where people come to be informed, educated and enlightened, and where they can debate. There was Bill Buckley on the right and Bill Moyers on the left. Today, Margaret Hoover (granddaughter of Herbert) holds forth on Sunday mornings with a restrained conservative perspective. Presidential candidates sparred on Iowa PBS. Iowa Press often played host to governors Tom Vilsack and Terry Branstad. Market to Market gives an agnostic analysis of rural issues and markets.

We used to read pretty much from the same book: The Des Moines Register, The Cedar Rapids Gazette and a number of good to great regional and local newspapers. John McCormally thundered from the Burlington HawkEye, and Jimmy Carter paid attention. The HawkEye is a shadow of its former self. So is The Register. They got bought up and hollowed out by chains while Google and Facebook eroded the franchises.

In the cacophony of today’s digital media cesspool, Iowa needs a clear voice of reason. Public broadcasting can be that forum since the Storm Lake Times Pilot has enough on its agenda.

Congress would chop up to 20% from Iowa PBS. More than that, Trump wants to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That’s what funds “Frontline” and “Downton Abbey.” And, yes, “Independent Lens,” which gives indie filmmakers a rare window to a wide audience, like the ones who crafted “Storm Lake.”

People say they don’t trust the media but they buy wholesale lies fed on Truth Social and Fox News. If you can’t trust Judy Woodruff then we all had better dive into the bunker. By the time this Big Beautiful Bill passes we will close more nursing homes and rural hospitals, cut off public broadcasting, and literally take food from the mouths of babes, ostensibly for a tax cut. It’s also a power grab. It is an attempt to control what we think.

It’s stupid, it’s not what Mary Jane Odell would advise when Republicans had their wits about them, and it makes us stupid right along. Chet Randolph of Market to Market would not approve.

Unfortunately Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley are so dull and craven that they will probably support this mishmash of nonsense sold as a crusade. We could wish otherwise, but these are days where ignorance is vaunted.