Ken Burns appeared Sunday to discuss his new documentary series on The American Revolution on the “How to Fix It” podcast from the Trump-hating outlet The Bulwark, hosted by former CNN pundit and losing Democrat congressional candidate John Avlon. As usual, Burns is gently nudged to issue long answers, like he’s a genius that everyone must enjoy. He did the usual mockery of patriotic thoughts about the revolution as “fife-and-drum treacle.”
But on social media, conservatives shared Burns bemoaning the defunding of PBS and NPR.
“It’s a big deal, they killed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, incredibly shortsighted. It’ll hurt mostly rural communities, maybe that’s their intention. There’ll be news deserts. Nobody will be covering the school board or the city council meetings.”
This is the same lame argument all the PBS/NPR bureaucrats used, because they know everyone associates these channels and their snobbish liberal news with the Manhattan brie-and-chablis set. So they have to pretend that small towns and rural areas don’t have any local newspapers or radio stations who cover the local meetings. As a college kid, I sat through more than a few county board, school board, and city council meetings as a news guy for a private radio station. No NPR person came.
Ken Burns lives in an old farm house in the small town of Walpole, New Hampshire. We can only hope the local folks mock him at the grocery store about this — if he doesn’t send “the help” to buy his wine and cheese.
The idea that rural folks get all their news from PBS and NPR was highly amusing. I retweeted a pile of retorts, like these.
Bonchie:
Rural communities have the internet.
This soft bigotry of assuming they all live in huts in the woods with rabbit ears as their only access to media is stupid. https://t.co/cEIoCNSuK8
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) November 10, 2025
Amy Curtis:
It’s adorable how all the people who sneer at rural communities 364 days a year suddenly pretend to care so they can use them as political fodder for NPR. https://t.co/FCJRpJS5NU
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) November 10, 2025
Michael Graham (no relation):
Yes, how will rural ppl get the latest news from Downton Abbey and the prices at the Antiques Road Show without a taxpayer-funded TV signal? https://t.co/5O2G0u0xAq
— ConservativeNotCrazy (@IAMMGraham) November 10, 2025
Mark Hemingway:
It’s 2025. No one in rural communities depends on PBS or NPR. This is absurd. https://t.co/U01wXqLXXj
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) November 10, 2025
David Burge:
I grew up in a small rural community, and I distinctly remember back in ’73 how shocked all the grownups were to turn on PBS and learn about World War II for the first time https://t.co/j2jg6Rr0sS
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) November 10, 2025
And finally, Caleb Howe:
Ken Burns should do a 30 hour documentary on how Ken Burns doesn’t get rural America. https://t.co/R6m0f7vlIl
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) November 10, 2025
