HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WBMA) — After months of debate over Alabama Public Television’s relationship with PBS, political influence and even who should be trusted to ask Alabamians what they think, the foundation that commissioned a $39,500 statewide survey now has the results.
The Cygnal survey found 54.2% of respondents said APT should continue its relationship with PBS, compared with 17.7% who said it should end the relationship. Another 28.1% were unsure.
The results landed Tuesday in the middle of the same disagreements that led to the survey in the first place.
During a meeting of the Alabama Educational Television Foundation Authority in Huntsville, Chairman William Green initially cautioned against highlighting individual findings before members and the public could review the complete survey.
“I think if we cherry pick, it can give a misconception of everything because he won’t get it in context,” Green said.
Foundation Authority member Pete Conroy disagreed and began presenting several of the findings.
“This is amazing,” Conroy said before reading the PBS results.
Conroy also highlighted findings showing nearly 62% of respondents said political officials should stay out of APT programming decisions and 47.9% said tying state funding to programming content gives politicians too much control.
After Conroy finished, members exchanged comments about previous concerns that the selection of Cygnal could result in a slanted survey.
“I mean if it had been a balanced polling group I wonder what the results would have said,” Conroy said.
Green eventually pointed to what the survey did not find.
“I think that makes it very, very clear,” Green said. “You know, we would have — it would have came out saying get rid of PBS, but it didn’t.”
A survey born out of conflict
The survey followed months of sometimes contentious discussions within APT’s governing bodies about PBS, programming, political balance and how the public should be consulted.
The Alabama Educational Television Foundation Authority approved paying Cygnal $39,500 for the survey during a special-called Sept. 16 meeting.
That decision itself became contentious.
Critics questioned the selection of the polling company, the speed of the process, the use of Foundation money and whether the survey would be sufficiently independent. Supporters argued the survey would provide information needed to guide future programming decisions.
Green also pushed back during that meeting against suggestions that members were working toward eliminating PBS.
“It did come up as an idea months ago, maybe disassociating with PBS,” Green said, adding that members subsequently considered how much programming APT receives through PBS.
“We’re not trying to destroy PBS,” Green said.
Green then said the board should wait for the public’s response.
“So I would appreciate it if we just get the survey, the results of this survey, look at it, and then see how we can better serve the people of Alabama,” Green said.
Two weeks later, the survey is complete.
What respondents said about PBS
The wording of the PBS question provided respondents context before asking them to choose.
Respondents were told APT pays annual fees to PBS, that PBS programming makes up roughly 80% to 90% of what APT broadcasts, and that ending the relationship would free up those fees but require APT to replace most of its current lineup, including children’s programming.
The results were:
35.3% — definitely continue with PBS18.9% — probably continue9% — probably end the relationship8.7% — definitely end the relationship28.1% — unsure.
Support for PBS was higher among people who regularly watch APT.
Cygnal’s analysis found 74% of weekly APT viewers supported continuing the PBS relationship, compared with 10% who supported ending it. Adults 65 and older favored continuing 44% to 28%. Men 55 and older were the only major subgroup Cygnal identified where ending the relationship narrowly exceeded continuing it, 37% to 35%.
Nearly 62% say political officials should stay out
The survey also asked Alabamians about an issue at the center of the broader APT debate: how much influence elected officials should have over programming.
Respondents were presented with two positions — that because APT receives state funding, elected officials should have a say in what programs it airs, or that political officials should stay out of programming decisions so public television remains independent.
61.9% said political officials should stay out of programming decisions.
16.5% said elected officials should have a say.
Another 21.7% were unsure.
The survey asked a related question about state funding.
47.9% said tying state funding to program content gives politicians too much control over what the public gets to watch. Another 23.2% said state funding should depend on whether programming is politically balanced, while 28.9% were unsure.
Survey also finds concerns about political bias
The results do not show universal agreement about APT’s programming.
Asked whether APT programming leans politically liberal, conservative or is generally balanced, 28.5% said balanced, 19.6% said liberal and 12.4% said conservative.
The largest group — 39.5% — was unsure.
There was also a notable difference between people who regularly watch APT and those who do not.
Cygnal’s analysis found weekly viewers called APT balanced 49% to 11% liberal. The polling firm also reported that 49% of all respondents who perceived a liberal lean were people who do not watch APT.
Respondents were separately told Alabama law prohibits APT from carrying propaganda, attempting to influence legislation or engaging in political campaigns.
36.3% said APT generally stays within that requirement, 20.5% said it does not and 43.2% were unsure.
Educational mission draws broad support
Outside the political debate, some of the survey’s clearest results concerned APT’s educational role.
67.2% of respondents called APT valuable to Alabama families and students, including 39.5% who called it very valuable. About 17% said it was not valuable.
Asked about the amount of educational programming APT provides, 38.8% said it was about right and 22% said there was too little. Just 4.1% said APT offers too much educational programming. Thirty-five percent were unsure.
More than 81% said it is important for APT children’s programming to include Science of Reading and phonics basics.
APT itself received a 49.3% favorable rating and an 8.7% unfavorable rating. PBS was viewed favorably by 60.6% and unfavorably by 16.2%.
What about taxpayer funding?
The survey also asked whether Alabama should change its financial support for APT.
Respondents were first told APT receives an annual appropriation from the state’s Education Trust Fund and lost more than $2.5 million in federal support last year.
39% favored increasing state funding, 17.5% said it should remain about the same and 14.2% favored decreasing it. Another 29.2% were unsure.
That means 56.5% favored maintaining or increasing state funding, although the question provided respondents information about the loss of federal funding before asking for their opinion.
Who was surveyed?
Cygnal conducted the survey Sept. 20-23 among 600 Alabama adults. The company reports a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
According to the methodology, known registered voters were interviewed through live telephone calls and text messages, and the results were weighted to an Alabama general-population universe.
The sample was 42.1% Republican, 26.9% independent and 24.4% Democratic. Ideologically, 44.4% identified as conservative, 26.7% as moderate and 16.9% as liberal.
The wording of several questions is important context when interpreting the results. The PBS question, for example, told respondents that PBS supplies most of APT’s programming and specifically mentioned children’s programming. The state-funding question told respondents about the loss of federal funding before asking whether Alabama should increase or decrease its support.
What happens with the results now?
The Foundation Authority voted Tuesday to make the survey materials available to the public.
23813-ALETC-AL-DeckPDF previewPreview PDF
Courtesy APT
Green said members need time to examine the numbers before having a broader discussion.
“We put it up on APTV website so that everybody can get access to it,” Green said. “And then further we would discuss it after we’ve looked at it, looked at the numbers, seeing what it means, everybody had time to look at it.”
The Foundation Authority plans to return to the survey for a fuller discussion at its next meeting.
For months, members of APT’s governing bodies have debated what Alabamians want from their public television network.
The Foundation Authority spent $39,500 to ask them.
Now the public’s answers are part of the record — and the next question is how those results will factor into the decisions that follow.