Maine Public Broadcasting Network pisses off public

Due to cutbacks in public broadcasting in Maine, kids in Eastern and Northern Maine will only get to watch Sesame Street for half the year. The radio towers in both Calais and Fort Kent are also going to be taken down. No more NPR. No more public radio. No more news. No more educational programming.

“These changes will allow us to keep our local focus on news and public affairs while maintaining the cultural, science and children’s programming provided by our partners at NPR and PBS. It will also allow us to continue to develop and expand our new media capabilities and engage the communities we serve with timely and relevant content, which we believe will ultimately put us back on sound financial footing,” said Dowe.

If by "local" you mean Portland than maybe this statement makes sense. There's just so much more to Maine than the southern tip. And I'm not convinced that cutting off a majority of the state to programming really outweighs developing and expanding their new media capabilities. Public broadcasting means broadcasting for everyone. They're going to have to re-brand themselves I'm afraid.

Our tax dollars go towards public broadcasting and the communities that need it most aren't going to be getting it anymore. If this isn't a thumb to the nose of rural Maine and the Canadian Maritimes I don't know what is.

Read the press release here or listen to the story here.