NEW YORK — Is PBS still necessary?

That question, posed by a New York Times column recently, was answered with a resounding "yes" by fans of the public broadcasting system.

About 6,000 viewers posted messages on the Web site of PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" responding to the piece, the vast majority vociferously defending the need for noncommercial media.

"If it were not for PBS I would not watch TV," wrote Kay Plavidal in one typical missive. "If there is anything unnecessary in television programming today, it is the multitude of empty and biased cable programs that are, unfortunately, entertaining millions of Americans as we speak."

The question drew a strong response from some unexpected quarters. A post about the column on an Entertainment Weekly blog attracted hundreds of comments.

"I have 4 PBS shows towards the top of my TiVo list and watch Reading Rainbow at lunch. And I'm 30," wrote one. "PBS rocks!!"

The feisty response came after the New York Times' Charles McGrath questioned the relevance of taxpayer-supported television when the public can choose from myriad programs on cable.

"There are not only countless more channels to choose from now, but many offer the kind of stuff that in the past you could see only on public TV, and in at least some instances they do it better," he wrote.

Lehrer said he was taken back by the piece. He mentioned it on his show, asking viewers to share their thoughts online. The response, coming just weeks after the Bush administration proposed halving federal funding for public broadcasting, "was extraordinary," he said.

"It's so reassuring," Lehrer added. "But it doesn't surprise me that people feel this way. People who watch the programming feel that it belongs to them."

In an interview, McGrath said he expected a strong reaction but noted that he was not trying to suggest PBS should be done away with.

"I was trying to say, let's look at PBS and see what it is. It's not what it used to be, in part because the whole nature of television has changed," McGrath said. "Had I had more room, there are a lot of things I could have talked about that are good."