Public, Not-For-Profit Media Is More Important Than Ever

[Commentary] We need to acknowledge that public, not-for-profit media is more important than ever. And independent documentary voices on that media are all that is left on the airwaves that are driven by authentic individuals who measure their success not in dollars and cents but in the robustness of the discourse they trigger.

Public, independent documentaries are the last bulwark of integrity in the battle against conformity, against the monotone emanating from our televisions. They give us the chance to immerse ourselves in the perspectives divergent from our own. Public media can and should continue to support the magnificent arts programming that we all know and love. But without the alternative and overtly politically challenging voices that come to us by way of independent documentaries, it runs the risk of taming itself into irrelevancy. Without a serious commitment to independent and diverse voices from PBS and WNET, what will that media landscape look like going forward? More like the Sahara, I suspect, than ever before.

[Abigail Disney is a filmmaker and philanthropist]