. The Republican governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, recently vetoed a bill that would have renewed the license and provided millions in funding for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, the statewide PBS network that reaches more than 650,000 viewers a week. Stitt took issue with what he alleged was LGBTQ-inclusive programming on the station, claiming to Fox News that it amounted to the “indoctrination and over-sexualization of our children.
9 million comes from the state government. If Stitt’s veto is not overridden by the state legislature, it would send the station into uncharted territory and could prompt painful decisions to be made. Not only is OETA the home of educational children’s programming, but it also plays an important civic role. It produces and airs the “Oklahoma News Report,” the only state news program that reaches every county in Oklahoma.