Common Cause Blog :: Time for Our Move to Save Public Broadcasting ...

Time for Our Move to Save Public Broadcasting ...

By Chellie Pingree
Posted on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 01:32:31 PM EST

Last week a House subcommittee voted to cut funding for public broadcasting, aiming to radically change programming on National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The proposed cuts include $23.4 million in federal funds for children's educational shows, such as "Sesame Street," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," and "Arthur." The loss of these shows would deprive millions of American children of valuable educational programming.

The subcommittee also voted to "zero out" or eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). That loss would be about 15 percent of public broadcasting's total revenues. Small stations serving rural communities and minority audiences would be particularly hard hit by these cuts because they operate on very tight budgets and in many cases are one of the only stations serving the community.

We need to kill this funding-cut proposal immediately. Please call the leadership of the Appropriations Committee today and demand that they immediately work to restore full funding for public broadcasting:

Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) (202) 225-5861
Vice-Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH) (202) 225-3876

Call these leaders and ask them not to meddle with the funding for public broadcasting. In addition, please email your Member of Congress and let him or her know that you oppose efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting:

http://www.commoncause.org/savepublicbroadcasting

We must take these actions today. Last week's vote was "a malicious wounding, if not outright attempted murder, of public broadcasting in America."

This type congressional effort to cut funding for public broadcasting is not new. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) unsuccessfully tried to eliminate funding for public broadcasting in the 90s and there are still some in Congress who share his vision. And, it is not a surprise that the congressional opponents of public broadcasting have chosen this time to renew their efforts, considering the powerful friend they have on their corner, Kenneth Tomlinson, the chairman of CPB.

Mr. Tomlinson is waging an all-out campaign to politicize the CPB and interfere with the editorial independence of NPR and PBS because he thinks they are biased. Tomlinson and his friends in Congress, who are trying to gut public broadcasting, cling to this opinion despite the results of two recent CPB-funded polls that showed that Americans in overwhelming numbers view public broadcasting as a trusted source of news and information.

This is why we need to move fast to fend off these overt attacks on public broadcasting, which a vast majority of Americans find to be a "trustworthy" source of information. So please contact Representative Lewis at (202) 225-5861 or Representative Regula at (202) 225-3876, as well as your member of Congress and urge them to restore funding for public broadcasting.

Let us know how your calls are going by posting your comments right here on our blog. Of course let us know if you have any questions and feedback on our campaign. We will be reading and replying to all of your queries, engaging in discussion the best we can

Thank you again for all you do for Common Cause.

Tags: Media and Democracy (all tags)

Time for Our Move to Save Public Broadcasting ... :: 13 Comments

Bush-wa

The person from District 10 in TX, which was gerrymandered by DeLay, is a total sycophant of this Administration, and I don't see that writing him would do anything at all except give my fingers exercise.

by Anonymous Citizen on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 04:11:13 PM EST

CPB

Called the Chair and Vice Chair and expressed my opposition to cutting of the funds

by Anonymous Citizen on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 04:12:02 PM EST

funds cuts for PBS

I called the offices of both Chairman Jerry Lewis and Vice-Chairman Ralph Regula to express my opposition to the proposed cuts in PBS federal funding.

The man who answered the phone at the Chairman's office was pleasant, asked my name and home state, and responded to my comments by stating that the office has received hundreds of calls also voicing their opposition on this issue. This felt good, like my voice counted and opponents of the cuts were at least being recognized, if not heard.

On the other hand, the man who answered the phone at the Vice-chairman's office was rude, curt and misrepresented current events. When I voiced my opposition not just to the present proposed cuts, but also to the propopsed elimination of federal funds in two years, which facts are discussed in the common cause newsletter, the man stated that there was no vote to eliminate all funding in two years because the budget is reformulated each year, so this was not possible. What is this? Did Common Cause get its facts wrong (which I doubt) or is this guy purposefully misrepresenting the facts (which I have no problem believing, since it is the MO now of so many in power in this country)? Could also be that the guy is just ignorant, which I also do not doubt since ignorance seems to be the safest approach for all those who pledge allegiance to the Republican party these days. Ugh! It is all so disgusting and disheartening. PBS will not fall because of this. If anything, it will grow stronger by the public's support!

by Anonymous Citizen on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 05:13:01 PM EST

Re: funds cuts for PBS

Lauren Colettta here, Director of Campaigns. You are right, we do have our facts straight. Both Lewis and Regula led the charge in the effort to cut public broacasting by 50% and zero it out by 2008 at the subcommittee level. In order for their efforts to be successful they will have to get it through the full appropriations committee, then the full House and then get the Senate to compromise with them...no small feat. We need to kill this idea at the committee level to send a strong signal that broadcasting unfettered by commercialism is worth keeping and Americans value it. You are right, the staffers comments are disengenuous and I am sure they realize it. Keep the calls coming and thank you!!

Lauren Coletta

by Lauren Coletta on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 09:55:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: funds cuts for PBS

Public broadcasting is already too indebted to corporate interests. Example: some years ago NPR used to do regular exposés on ADM (Archer Daniels Midland.) Then ADM became a major sponsor of NPR and those reports suddenly stopped. This was, IMO, an egregious failure on the part of NPR, who has a mandate to report on issues salient to the American public. ADM's environmental record is certainly one such issue, and NPR caved to ADM.

If anything, though, this shows that public broadcasting needs more support, not less. Had it not been for routine funding cuts and inappropriate political pressure upon their editorial staff, I doubt that NPR (or PBS) would now be feeling such pressure from corporations. They could effectively ignore them. As it stands now, though, public broadcasting depends on corporate funding to survive. This is outrageous, and antithetical to the stated mission of public broadcasting.

We must demand full government funding for public broadcasting... NOW!

by Anonymous Citizen on Tue Jun 14, 2005 at 11:20:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Big Bird isn't Bushy enough???

I'm old and live reclusively. Therefore, the prospect that this "written utterance" will fall into the echoing and inattentive void with my spoken ones distresses me not at all. There's an odd kind of license implicit in realizing that only I listen to me.

Alas, Kenneth Tomlinson, a man I would not trust to choose reading or viewing material for any sentient creature (including my Aussie cattle dog, Miss Betsy Trotwood), is making inroads in his campaign against NPR and PBS. The House has taken a machete to their budgets.

If you can make time, please do call your Congressional representative to urge protection of NPR and PBS. Even if you've acted for Common Cause (and you should!), you might consider also joining Free Press's campaign. I've given the Free Press link below, which provides a mechanism for identifying your representative if you don't know who it is. There is also a canned, revisable letter to Lewis and Regula, the GOP heads of the Appropriations Committee. I revised it for myself, bearing in mind my growing conviction that we could lose all our freedom to "terminal good manners". I think it doesn't hurt to let them know that we are angry about the budget cuts and to emulate the British in the way they drag their leaders center-ring and thrump them heartily about the head and shoulders when they are displeased.

PBS and NPR may be the last stronghold against those who want to use the Bible like a science manual and believe genuine anathema consists in not recognizing W as God's anointed.

And if you haven't yet and can afford to do so, please subscribe to your local PBS -- they need the money, and I can almost guarantee you they won't use it to begin a pre-emptive war, fund a detention camp, or spread misinformation about birth control and AIDS.

Besides, given a choice between Mr. Bush and Big Bird... well, there's a sentence that doesn't require completion.

I know must be disheartening for Congress to realize more of us trust NPR and PBS than trust Congress or the Administration. But they really should try to live with their chagrin and do something to earn our greater trust if they truly desire it.

Cutting NPR and PBS budgets is tantamount to Administration-sponsored censorship -- not because NPR and PBS are "unbalanced", but because they are not dedicatedly "pro-Administration". It's known as "freedom of expression", and it used to be all the rage in this country. I'd like to see it restored and protected.

I have called my Representative and have e-mailed the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Appropriations Committee, as well as each member of the Committee. I have a widening circle of activist friends whose assistance in the campaign I have also solicited.

http://www.freepress.net/action/callcongress.php?a =savepbs

I'm old, I'm tried, I'm cranky. Try to be reasonable.

by xristim on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 05:22:32 PM EST

Calls to DC re fund cuts to NPR/PBS

Phoned Chairman Jerry Lewis's office, left my name and message that the funds mustn't be cut to the most trusted and unbiased news sources available to Americans today. The guy who answered the phone listened, seemed fairly nice and said they were "keeping track of calls". Also phoned the Vice-Chairman's office, where the answerer was less patient. I left my name, reiterated that having Tomlinson in charge of the CPB was like having the fox running the henhouse: he was trying to politicize the institutions in his own image (something akin to appointing Bolton to the UN: nothing like appointing heads to organizations which they really want to dismantle!). This guy took my name and said he'd "pass it along to the Congressman." Un huh.

by Anonymous Citizen on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 05:32:41 PM EST

Keep the Calls through tomorrow folks!

First of all - thanks so much to everyone who are making the phone calls and leaving the comments posting about your calling experience. Please keep in mind, if you are getting this email, you can call tomorrow. Keep calling them. We need our congressional leaders to hear from thousands of our supporters. It will make an impact. Thanks again guys.

by Murshed Zaheed on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 05:39:49 PM EST

Called to oppose CPB funding cuts

I called both the chair and vice chair's offices to let them know that I was very concerned about cutting funding to CPB and that its totally irresponsible to leave journalism to corporate interests. Neither office wanted to know who I was...

by Anonymous Citizen on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 06:11:42 PM EST

Cuts to Public Broadcasting

I called the Office of Chair and Vice Chair and expressed my displeasure as an American Citizen to any cuts to public broadcasting.

The phone staff was polite...and when asked ...said they were keeping a tally.

I know individually these calls seem like a waste of time, but I feel that it is important to deluge their offices....It reinforces the reality that there are millions of us out here, who are watching and listening to what they are doing; that we care; that we are organized and communicating and that that the public is a force to be dealt with......

Formerly, these guys (and gals) rarely got feedback.from ordinary Americans (Just the guys with the checkbooks)...and usually after the fact...Thanks to the internet we are able to keep up to speed on what our government is doing...and able to respond....before it is too late.

We must keep working at the idea that we are a force to be reckoned with.

by unarosalie on Tue Jun 14, 2005 at 12:28:39 PM EST

Call to Vice Chair

I was not able to get through to the Chairman's office but did get through to the Vice's. The nice receptionist asked where I had heard of the move to cut funding. She seemed confused as to why they were getting all these calls and asked if it was on TV or in the paper. But she confirmed that they had moved a proposal to do such. This information needs to get out into the main stream media!

by Anonymous Citizen on Tue Jun 14, 2005 at 01:23:23 PM EST

Re: Call to Vice Chair

Good to hear they are getting so many calls on this. It will get their attention sooner or later. We have been posting our alert on other blogs as well - we want to keep the calls up all through today and tomorrow. Thanks again guys.

by Murshed Zaheed on Tue Jun 14, 2005 at 01:39:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Public broadcasting funding

I called the Chair and Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee. Mr. Lewis's responder did not sound happy with my (polite) call. The woman who answered for Representatve Regula was either happier or more tactful Both said they would pass on the information.

I've also emailed my own Representative and Senators.

To me this is a BIG issue! Tnanks for the alert.

by Anonymous Citizen on Tue Jun 14, 2005 at 04:49:25 PM EST

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Time for Our Move to Save Public Broadcasting ...

By Chellie PingreePosted on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 01:32:31 PM EST

By Chellie Pingree
Posted on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 01:32:31 PM EST