Fearless Alabama voices value PBS, and saved it

This is an opinion column.

Fear isn’t free; neither is foolishness. Each can be expensive.

Together? Get out your calculator.

Fear may cost you an opportunity. It may cost you peace. It may cost you joy.

Foolishness? Man, get out the calculator. Or follow the headlines coming out of Washington. D.C., out of the White House, out of Congress.

Pair them and they may break the bank. And make you look like a fool. Or worse.

Earlier this week, Wayne Reid, executive director of Alabama Public Television, calmly and efficiently laid out the cost of fear and foolishness. Laid out — like me scrutinizing a restaurant bill — just how much it would cost Alabamians if the Alabama Educational Television Commission capitulated to the fear and foolishness of a few.

To the fear and foolishness of at least two commission members who proposed that APT drop PBS, the engaging, intelligent, family-friendly network that has informed audiences and educated children across Alabama for generations.

To become the first state to drop Big Bird and Elmo. Drop the wonderful storytelling of Masterpiece.

Drop it because of Donald Trump’s fear and foolishness, because the president and the fearful right don’t like it. Don’t like that its news programming doesn’t bow to their leanings, doesn’t co-sign their fears and foolishness. That Big Bird, Elmo and their friends may teach children about things their parents may fear, teach them truths about the complicated world around them.

That programs like Sesame Street might inform and empower children to be smarter, more empathetic, and maybe less fearful than their parents.

Trump did what he does — tries to choke the life out of anyone or anything that does not genuflect to his whims — by defunding the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, stripping $1.1 billion previously allocated by Congress. That foolishness cost APT more than $2 million, about 13% of its annual budget.

Cost 13 Alabamians their jobs.

Yet APT Commissioners Les Barnett, Ferris Stephens and William Green wanted more. They wanted to unplug from PBS altogether. Their fear? That continuing to air PBS might not curry favor with Trump and Republican state leaders, including Gov. Ivey, which may threaten state funding. Wouldn’t want them mad at us … over Big Bird and Elmo.

Their foolishness? Barnett, who heads South Alabama’s Center for Forensics, Information Technology and Security, called PBS “the enemy.” Yeah, Big Bird, Elmo and their vicious gang of characters are the enemy.

Ivey actually tempered the foolishness, at least somewhat. In a letter released the day before the APT was to reconvene and likely vote on fulfilling its contract with PBS, she essentially, and rightfully, told the commission to slow its roll.

She called for a public survey to ensure “voices are heard.” In a bit of a political two-step, she also wrote: “For the sake of our people, it is imperative that APT’s programming align with Alabama values.”

Anytime the governor spouts “Alabama values,” I squirm because there is no such thing. Alabamians espouse differing values, depending on the subject in front of them. When the governor talks about the state’s values, she’s not talking about all of us — depending on the subject, of course.

Well, we now know this: Alabamians value PBS.

At least if measured by the passion of those who showed up on Tuesday to express their support for PBS. They overwhelmed the room and crowded the sidewalk outside APT headquarters.

If there were dissidents present, advocates for squashing PBS, they were as muted as The Quiet Family.

Reid came bearing a detailed presentation outlining the cost of killing PBS, the tab for fear and foolishness: Almost $6 million.

That’s $3 million to replace PBS programming, mostly with British stuff — aligning perfectly with Alabama values, right? And up to $2.7 million in lost contributions from APT’s loyal members.

The cost was clear. The commission voted overwhelmingly to honor its PBS contract, which extends through July 2026.

Stephens and Green did the math — and voted yes. Barnett, who attended remotely, abstained, saying he could not hear the motion.

Voices were heard. Fearless voices. Voices expressing Alabama values.

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