‘I Would Send Billions of Dollars to Public Broadcasting’

PBS News Hour co-host Geoff Bennett turned up on The Jim Acosta Show to promote his new book on black comedy titled Black Out Loud. Bennett and Acosta were both White House reporters in Trump’s first term. After talking all about The Cosby Show and In Living Color, Acosta felt compelled to gush over PBS to a rather overenthusiastic degree. 

After Acosta discussed his amazing experience as a subject on the PBS genealogy show Finding Your Roots, he praised the entire enterprise: 

Jim @Acosta gushes to PBS host Geoff Bennett: “There’s so many quality programs on PBS. I tell people all the time, if I could wave a magic wand, I would send BILLIONS of dollars to public broadcasting.”

That tells you who PBS pleases, and who PBS serves. pic.twitter.com/35hUb6aaE5

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) March 27, 2026

ACOSTA: And there’s so many — Frontline — there’s so many quality programs on PBS. I tell people all the time, if I could wave a magic wand, I would send billions of dollars to public broadcasting.

BENNETT: [laughs]: Yeah. And I gotta say, it’s really heartening to see the ways in which our viewers have stepped up post defunding. And the philanthropy is terrific, but really, it’s the individual viewers who are standing in the gap and, deeply appreciate it.

Shortly before this financial fantasy, Acosta cued up the first tribute, that PBS is how you can “fix the news.” Oh, the fix the news, all right: 

Jim @Acosta tells PBS’s Geoff Bennett that when people ask how to “fix the news,” he promotes PBS. Oh, they “fix the news” all right. The rig it just the way that the Left wants it. Bennett brags they draw 2 million viewers a night, more than cable news. Fox News laughs. pic.twitter.com/3dp6HdyuIg

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) March 27, 2026

ACOSTA: I have to put you on the spot a little bit because I have to ask you, you’re the anchor of the PBS News Hour, and I’m going to embarrass you a little bit and say what a huge fan I am of the program

BENNETT: Thank you.

ACOSTA: You and Amna [Nawaz] just do terrific work, and I also want to promote the PBS News Hour. I go out and do these speaking engagements from time to time, and people ask me, how would you fix the news? How would you fix broadcasting? And I tell people all the time, in addition to independent media and the importance of independent media, I think public broadcasting is so important in this country, and it’s not valued enough, and as a matter of fact, it’s been defunded, and I don’t want to drag you into all that.

But your thoughts on why you’re proud to be at the PBS News Hour and to be a part of public broadcast, because I wish it would be said much more often. So I’m going to put you on the spot and make you do it.

BENNETT: First of all, thank you for the kind words about the broadcast. As you know, it is a team effort, and I view my role as being a steward of that institution. For more than 50 years, people have tuned or turned to the PBS News Hour for coverage they can trust, they know that we have a fidelity to the facts, and we are really intentional about the stories we cover, about the voices we elevate.

Our editorial meeting, sometimes it’s longer than the broadcast itself in the mornings. It’s not always the most efficient way to get a broadcast on the air, but it really speaks to the level of intention and care we bring to the broadcast. And I would also say that the news hour sometimes people have this perception of it being this deeply respected but little watched program. We have two million viewers every night, which is four or five times what you have on cable in prime time, on most nights, and 30 million across our digital footprint.

This is where the “fact checking” should kick in. If the News Hour drew exactly 2.0 million viewers every night, a look at the February cable-news ratings would show it would come behind 12 Fox News programs and Rachel Maddow’s Monday show. Bennett’s show might outshine CNN and most of MS NOW, but not typically by four or five times.