The NYT says funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be cut “nearly in half.” The cut eliminates $50 million needed to upgrade “the aging satellite technology that is the backbone of the PBS network.”
The proposal by Ohio Republican Rep. Ralph Regula “also calls for all federal funding to the CPB to be eliminated in two years,” reports Democracy Now!‘s Amy Goodman.
Democracy Now! headlines today’s show with “PBS TV Station President Warns CPB Funding Cuts Will Launch ‘Spiral of Death for Public Broadcasting’.” Amy Goodman hosts (watch/listen) a round-table discussion with the presidents of two PBS stations as well as Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy.
Rants below:
RANT #1: Also cut: The “$23 million ‘Ready to Learn’ program supervised by the Education Department’:
That program provides some money for producing children’s shows, including “Sesame Street,” “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” “Between the Lions” and “Dragon Tales.”
By all means, let’s cut non-polluting industries that hire American workers for creative jobs and that educate our “left-behind” children.
RANT #2:
[I]n the face of charges from CPB Chair Tomlinson that it is has a liberal bias, and threats to its funding from Congress, the Public Broadcasting Service on Tuesday adopted an updated set of editorial standards and announced that it would add an ombudsman who will report directly to PBS President Pat Mitchell. (DN!)
I’ve been wondering if NPR and PBS would be better off telling the federal government to go to hell and produce their own programming without stupid congressmen — like Rep. Ralph Regula — breathing down their necks.
NPR and PBS have solid standing in nearly every U.S. community, and occupy excellent spots on our TV and radio dials.
What if NPR and PBS went truly public? And asked us to finance them, in exchange for which we ask them to let their hair down and be part of the truth-telling team 24/7?
PBS, for example, does a great job with truth-telling programs such as Frontline. NPR has some some great muck-raking journalism lately, and can do more.
Is it possible they could resign from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and fly free?
……………………………………………
From the Center for American Progress:
Big Bird Gets Plucked
For more than two decades, “political conservatives have been targeting PBS … with a stream of public relations campaigns designed to rein in public broadcasting’s independence and cut into its public and congressional support.” Both the Nixon and Reagan administrations attacked public broadcasting and, as speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich tried to end its funding. E-mail petitions — with “Save Big Bird!” subject lines — that implored you to save public broadcasting from destruction used to be the stuff of urban legend. But leave it to conservatives to ultimately succeed in turning fiction into reality. Right-wingers are taking over the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the agency intended to provide a buffer between independent public broadcast networks and the partisan government. And they are working overtime to put a conservative slant on programming, a move that completely undermines the non-interference mandate of the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act. This week right-wingers in the House voted to cut all federal funding for public broadcasting within the next two years. Unless the public demands respect for independent and public broadcasting, soon nobody will be able to tell you how to get to Sesame Street. Write Congress and demand that they save PBS from partisan operatives. …
Read more.
P.S. One of our heroes — Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) — will try to introduce legislation on the floor to restore some of the spending.
I believe they’re both guaranteed their share of the spectrum – they are not required to bid. Am i wrong on this? I fear they’d be slowly finished off if they had to compete.
And they should not have to compete!
This is sick that they are being eviscerated. Those fuckers are going for total power NOW before the shit reaches too high. I said this in another post: NPR & PBS might protect themselves by remaining focused on covering Conyers. Then they can call out the GOP for trying to muzzle them by waving THAT particular can of worms about all the more.
I think it’s about the end of the road for NPR-and it saddens me but the shift to the right I’ve seen there since the lead up to the war saddened me too. I don’t think they can survive unless they get away from government funding entirely or become Fox News Two, it’s an ugly choice.
That said-once they slid over into the Bush cheerleader camp I shifted my pledge money to Pacifica-a viable option to my mind. At least I don’t have to wade through piles of right wing talking points to get to the news. Our local PBS station is more right leaning than many so my views are probably skewed by that.
Don’t you think that, down deep, they’d love to bash Bush more? But they don’t dare becuase of the dependency on public financing?
They do have the McDonald’s money — I forget how much that was, and it’s only for national shows. But.
At the end of the story, I added an excerpt from the Center for American Progress this morning.
And they have TALKING POINTS for us to write to our members of Congress.
The fascist regime will stop at nothing in order to take over the public airwaves. PBS andNPR, imho need to say a bif fuck you to the government and go public. I think they would garner alot of support for that type of move.
One of the station managers just told Amy that it costs $1.20 per capita per year to support both NPR and PBS.
Um, damn … I forget … how much is the war in Iraq costing us per capita?
on the idea of government-supported public broadcasting in America. Every other developed country has thriving public broadcast sectors that do not have to whine for table scraps from stupid pols, but evidently America is not good enough, not smart enough, to measure up.
In any case, I think we need to think bigger. Forget the piddlyass droppings that are being waved in front of us. When the GOP is a minority again, go for a massive untouchable endowment that will generate enough funds to keep public broadcasting going without bending the knee to either pols or advertisers. A tiny fraction of what’s now going to a worthless war, corporate subsidies, military venality, tax breaks for rich individuals and companies, and so on would do the trick.
If we can’t do that, I think we should let the GOP end government funding and add that to the ammo we’ll use to try and destroy the Republican Party in coming elections. People LIKE public broadcasting. Our strong suit is that we don’t need a “liberal” network. We just need an honest one that doesn’t have to please politicians or corporations to survive. Personally, I have little interest in a “liberal” network. The facts and the truth would be plenty good. It’s the other side that needs a “conservative” media because the truth somehow, just never works out for them.
This issue illuminates another difference between the nutwings and the reality based factions. Their money focuses like a laser on establishing radical clerical fascism in America. The big money on our side scatters its largess on trivial little causes primarily designed to make the donors feel better about themselves, rarely on anything that would change the structure for the better. (What was it, $100 million that Madonna just gave to some stupid guru?)
It really wouldn’t take that much to set up an endowment that would allow genuinely free public broadcasting forever. As far as I can gather, the income from $10 billion would do the trick. That’s a thousand bucks from 10 million people. 500 from 20 million. And there are probably a few matching grants from foundations that would cut that down some more. And maybe, even, when the Dems take over Congress again they could get off their asses and put some major money in the pot, and then get out of the way.
…Or I could just move to a civilized country north of here or west of here. For a change.
… last Friday, when the sub-committee voted on the funding cut. Here is my diary.
I also posted a diary a month ago on the important work Sesame Street is doing around the world: Culture Wars: How Sesame Street is Helping Save the World
Can you tell us a bit more here?
That’s right… It has happened. A congressional subcommittee has voted to cut all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting within 2 years.
From the Washington Post:
In addition, the subcommittee acted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which passes federal funds to public broadcasters — starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB’s budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million.
So what, you say? TV is bad for kids anyhow, right? It is just priming them to become consumers, isn’t it? Well, the PBS kids shows are actually a great way to spread our liberal values. That is the real reason the GOP wants to kill the CPB.
“Americans overwhelmingly see public broadcasting as an unbiased information source,” Rep. David Obey (Wis.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said in a statement. “Perhaps that’s what the GOP finds so offensive about it. Republican leaders are trying to bring every facet of the federal government under their control. . . . Now they are trying to put their ideological stamp on public broadcasting.”
But the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and education asserted that the panel was simply making choices among various worthy government programs, and that no political message was intended.
The subcommittee’s action, which came on a voice vote, doesn’t necessarily put Big Bird on the Endangered Species List. House members could restore funding as the appropriations bill moves along or, more likely, when the House and Senate meet to reconcile budget legislation later this year. The Senate has traditionally been a stronger ally of public broadcasting than the House, whose former speaker, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), waged a high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to “zero out” funding for the CPB a decade ago.
The Democracy Cell Project has a BLOGSWARM on this issue HERE
Was really good. Can you pull some of it into here?
Here is the bulk of it:
I have spoken to many people lately about how we should define and spread our liberal values, especially in the face of the right wing controlled media. How do we teach our values to the next generation, while those values are under fire? As with anything, you have to start young. A great resource already exists that is helping us in spreading our values not only here in America, but across the globe:
The longest street in the world: Sesame Street.
We all know the right is targeting children’s shows and characters — an effort spearheaded by James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. SpongeBob has gotten the most attention, but he is certainly not the only one. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling recently prevented PBS from showing an episode of the children’s show Postcards from Buster in which the cartoon rabbit Buster visits two farms run by lesbian couples, even though the show never mentions the sexuality of the women. Nor was SpongeBob the only character attacked by Dobson for the “We are Family” video. That video included Big Bird and others.
This attack on children’s characters is part of the “Culture Wars” the right has begun against liberal values. I know there are those here who don’t believe there are culture wars underway, but those on the other side certainly do. I have a wacko, over-the-top religious brother who refused to come to my wedding because it wasn’t in a Catholic Church performed by a Catholic priest. He didn’t want to set a bad example for his kids by “celebrating a blasphemous union.” Around Christmas time, he sent out one of those “Year in Review” letters that some people are so fond of sending. In it, he talked about his ongoing struggle to raise his kids in the midst of the culture wars — yes, he actually used the phrase “the culture wars”. Included with the letter was a list by each of his children of the top 10 things he or she was greatful for in 2004. All 7 included Bush winning the election because of his values. The youngest, a 4 year old, had it as #2 on her list. “My God,” I thought to myself, “even the 4 year old is totally brainwashed.” He and his wife homeschool the kids to keep them away from “bad influences”. The only movies the children are allowed to see are religiously themed movies like the Veggie Tales or The Passion of the Christ (which also made it onto most of the kids’ lists). They aren’t allowed to watch but a select few TV programs. Sesame Street is not one of them.
Why? What is so dangerous about Sesame Street?
Read the caption below the Ernie and Bert pic. Sesame Street is a tool for political and social change? Yes. But not by promoting gay marriage. Anyone who has actually seen Sesame Street knows Ernie and Bert are not gay. They are actually the Odd Couple, in Muppet form. One is a shoot from the hip slob, the other is anal retentive and very proper. In spite of their differences, they have a respectful, loving friendship. Ernie and Bert are being twisted. They are an easy target simply because they live together. But if they weren’t on Sesame Street, the right would still be going after the program because it is chock full of liberal values.
What Liberal Values?
This is why the right is after children’s characters: they fear characters that are teaching the next generation liberal values. Respect for differences, diversity, community, a sense of global citizenship, these are dangerous ideas when your goal is perpetual warfare. You need a citizenry in fear to get people to surrender their rights and vote against their own best interests. You need an enemy to rally people and get them to sacrifice their children to the government military machine.
Those are also dangerous ideas if you want global economic dominance. You need servile people around the globe so our corporations can take advantage of them. But, as the above quote (from a Sesame Workshop fundraising letter) suggests, Sesame Street doesn’t just promote those liberal values to children here in the United States. Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children’s Television Workshop) works with educators and filmmakers in more than 20 countries to create regional versions of the Street and other programs. The regional shows are tailored to meet the needs of the children in each area and take into account the history and culture of the region. The shows not only teach basic skills, but are designed to foster cross-cultural understanding and respect. The Workshop’s programs are seen in over 120 countries.
The fundraising letter highlights some of the great lessons Sesame Street is trying to bring to the rest of the world:
In Egypt, where female literacy is very low, a four year old female Muppet named Khokha has a passion for learning which shows girls that education is not just for boys.
In South Africa, the Workshop uses TV, radio, and outreach materials to reach remote urban and rural areas to teach basic skills that the children would not be learning otherwise. The program also features a 5 year old girl Muppet named Kami, who is HIV-Positive, and teaches age-appropriate lessons about HIV/AIDS.
In Macedonia, the Workshop has targeted pre-teens with a dramatic series called Nashe Maalo (Our Neighborhood) that teaches tolerance and understanding between Albanian, Macedonian, Roma, and Turkish children and teens.
Sesame Workshop is now working on new projects in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bangladesh, and Northern Ireland, all areas where ethnic, religious, or political conflict and violence has interrupted education and warped people’s shared sense of humanity.
There are those magic words: “more peaceful.” Want to win the war on terror? Instill liberal values in everyone; promote a sense of common humanity and global citizenship. Want to spread freedom and democracy? Spread the ideas of equality and respect for differences. Democracy is government by the people, so the people must be assured that they have the same value no matter what their station in society, no matter what the language they speak, the religion they practice, or the color of their skin (or fur if you’re a Muppet). These are the same reasons that the right attacks the UN: it promotes common humanity and global citizenship, which run counter to the neocon desire for US hegemony.
In a time when our government talks about freedom and democracy while engaging in illegal wars and bombing civilians to oblivion, Sesame Street is perhaps our best ambassador to the rest of the world. Since our administration wont spread real American values through a sane foreign policy, I am glad we have an organization like the Sesame Workshop that does.
While some may take issue with me suggesting we support a TV program, I think it is one of the best investments we can make. Some may say TV is used for nothing but selling, turning us all into consumers. TV hypnotizes us, turns us into zombies. Most of us probably watch more TV than we want, and allow our children to watch more than they should. So why shouldn’t our kids watch shows promoting liberal values? As a special education teacher, I can attest that TV is a very powerful tool for teaching children, perhaps because it is so hypnotizing. If our kids are going to want toys and dolls of characters they are familiar with, why shouldn’t they be characters that represent liberal values?
Ultimately, you say, parents teach their children values. But why, then, do we all rail against the RWCM? Because the media can be a very powerful tool for teaching or indoctrinating. Why does my brother homeschool his kids and monitor their TV viewing so closely? Because a parent is not the only input a child receives. If a parent teaches a child one thing, but the world contradicts it, that can undermine the lesson or confuse the child. If parents can have their values echoed through the entertainment their child watches, it reinforces the lesson and lets the child know the parent is teaching them the truth. Sesame Street gives us that reinforcement in the MSM.
You can bet the Freepers know it, too:
9 posted on 11/10/2004 4:36:38 PM PST by MisterRepublican (“I must go. I must be elusive.”)
This show has become a means of pushing social Marxism on our children. Don’t allow fond memories to blind you as to what the show has become.
8 posted on 11/10/2004 4:36:16 PM PST by CitadelArmyJag (“Tolerance is the virtue of the man with no convictions” G. K. Chesterton)
It started out, I think, innocently enough — good stuff with letters and numbers and sharing, etc. But now — like so many other kid’s shows today — it is an indoctrination machine for the socialist left. It’s a shame.
63 posted on 11/11/2004 10:50:12 AM PST by ConservativeGadfly (Want to join the judicial nominations battle? Go to http://www.fairjudiciary.com!!!!!)
NPR/PBS and Amtrak- need to be defunded ASAP!
17 posted on 02/07/2005 8:15:26 AM PST by RushCrush (If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with. No more appeasement. – Reagan)
(on a side note, look at the posters’ sigs… frightening!)
The fundraising letter states that production in some places (like the U.S.) is sustainable through merchandise sales, so look for Muppet merchandise with the Sesame Workshop logo (Sesame Workshop is a non-profit, but profit from Muppet merchandise without the Workshop logo will go to the for-profit Jim Henson Company). To maintain production in the poorest places, where the show may do the most good, the Workshop relies on contributions. Unfortunately, both government funding and corporate contributions are down, and the Workshop has turned to the general public for donations for the first time.
If you are interested in donating to Sesame Workshop, click here.