- I've worked in public radio for 30 years.

What is a good response when people accuse- - That's, that's gotta be Bob Branson.

Is that right?

I know your voice.

I know your voice.

You are a hero.

- I'm hard to recognize, not on air, 'cause I sound taller on radio.

(audience laughing) - Don't take this the wrong way, but you have a face for radio, right?

Isn't that what they say?

No, I mean like I know your voice.

I don't think about your face.

- The room is turning on you.

- Alright, that's fine.

Alright.

Alright, Bob, we'll edit that out in post.

That's fine, actually.

I love your voice.

You're a hero.

You're excellent.

Okay, go ahead.

- What is a good response when people accuse public broadcasting of being left-wing oriented?

- Yeah.

So when I look at our work, and if someone says, "We think you lean too far left," I ask people always to give me examples.

And oftentimes they can't.

I think there is a perception that media writ large is, falls into one of two buckets, it's too liberal or it's too conservative.

I will tell you that when we look at our viewership, and this is both for broadcast as well as on our digital channels, we actually spent, particularly for the news and public affairs...

So what I'm gonna tell you is the same for both "NewsHour" and for "Frontline".

We did an analysis of the audience, and the audience, self-reported, 30% say they lean conservative, 30% say they lean liberal, 30% fall somewhere in the middle, and the 10% missing, if you've done your math, I've added up to 90, won't tell you.

So I think that the fact is that we do attract, 'cause I think that's the other misperception, is that we're liberal and only liberal people of liberal persuasion are watching us.

And I know who our audience is.

Not true.

- Yeah.

I mean, in some ways the conversation around fake news, which seemed to spring up all of a sudden about eight years ago, right?

(audience laughing) "Fake news."

Well, fake means something.

What's fake about it?

Well, it turns out that very often what they mean is, "I didn't like it."

- Right.

- Right?

It doesn't mean that it's wrong.

And in the same way, asking people, "Okay, tell me what the bias is in our work," - Yeah, so I always ask.

- is exactly right.

- Yeah.

I always ask.

- It's a response.

- If people say something, you know, "You're just liberal," it's like, "Well, let's talk about that.

Can you give me an example or two?"

And I can tell you, no one ever comes up with an example.

- [Host] They had that liberal Willie Nelson on Austin City Limits, right?

That's partly... Bob, thank you for that excellent question.

- Yeah, it was a great question.

- [Host] And thank you for your work for so many years.

Magnificent.

- Thank you for being here today.

(audience clapping) My question is somewhat related.

My wife and I, and even my 95-year-old mother in small town Texas, love watching the "NewsHour" and shows like "Frontline".

But in small-town Texas, I have an aunt and uncle who, if you go to their house, it's Fox News almost 24/7.

And it's kinda like, how do you, you know, it's news, and how do you get people like that to, to actually turn on the TV and watch PBS?

And there's actually a book that I read that recently came out, called "Avoiding the News", and it's kind of an interesting read about why some people really aren't interested in what's really news.

And I don't how you crack that nut, how you get those people, and I think there's a lot of them in small town America, that would never turn on PBS "NewsHour".

And I don't know how you'd crack that nut, because I think they, they more than me need to watch that show.

- I think one of the great challenges of our time, actually, is that people descend into their own echo chamber, and you see that happening, actually, on both sides, so it's not just the viewers of Fox.

- [Host] Totally agree.

- There are people that really want to have media experiences around what they call news, where they have their own ideas reflected back to them, - It's like they want- - and not challenged in any way.

- the thing they already believe to be affirmed, right?

- That's exactly right.

- Yeah.

- And so I don't know, other than going over and turning the channel for them, (audience laughing) how to get people to move off, other than to say that, you know, there are a lot of people that watch PBS that are very conservative and that are very interested in understanding what's going on in the world.

And so it's not to say they have to stop watching Fox, but they could expand their media diet a little bit.

I don't know about you, but I actually do try, particularly... Where I think it's even more of a problem is in the digital world, and particularly people that are online, because I think, with your family example, at least they know they're watching Fox, right?

But I think people that are getting information from their phone, which is how people describe it, end up going through a, going down a rabbit hole that's perpetuated by algorithms, and they don't even know that they're only being given one perspective.

And so, you know, I encourage people always to read things that are gonna make you angry, that are from people whose points of view that you don't like, just so that that gets broadened, so that we all have the benefit of seeing more of what people are reading and hearing.

- I'm hearing the beginnings of a marketing campaign.

"PBS: The antidote to the United States, a Confirmation Bias", right?

- Yeah.

(chuckling) Yeah, it's true.

- You could say worse than.... For sure.

Thank you.

- Yeah, great question.

- I'm being told that we need to go.

Please give Paula, again, a big hand.

(audience clapping) Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you to all of you.

We'll see you soon back here in the studio.

Take care.