It is not news that the CBC is beyond the pale. I'm sure there's lots more to be said of its counterparts of which I am blissfully unaware.

NFB has produced great content in the past and national endowments are largely responsible for many artists being able to make a living in Canada. Barring making any judgements on economic efficiency, my instinct is that these things provide at least some amount of public good, in a similar way that having a national junior hockey team does.

As to the question of whether the national "news" broadcaster should be given this funding is a completely separate discussion, but my knee-jerk response is that it is probably a bad idea.