|
Reverse Public Broadcasting Fund Cuts
|
Progressive Portal
|
Jun 18, 2005 18:20 PDT
|
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE SLASHES FUNDS
FOR PUBLIC TELEVISION, RADIO, BOLSTERING PARTISAN ATTACKS
[From Free Press <http://www.freepress.net/>]
The partisan attack on public broadcasting continues. First, they
targeted PBS and NPR news programs for signs of "liberal bias." Now a
Congressional subcommittee has voted to slash more than $200 million in
funding for public broadcasting, including $23.4 million earmarked for
"Ready to Learn" children's educational programming - the money that
keeps shows like "Sesame Street," "Arthur," and "Clifford the Big Red
Dog" on the air.
The subcommittee slashed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
budget by $100 million and voted to "zero out" all federal money for CPB
within two years. Small television and radio stations that serve rural
communities and minority audiences will be devastated by these cuts.
The CPB is already embroiled in controversy over the attempts by Kenneth
Tomlinson, CPB's Bush-appointed chairperson, to withhold funding from
PBS programs that don't follow his conservative political line.
Apparently dissatisfied with this effort to make public broadcasting
more "fair and balanced," powerful Republicans are now trying to
bankrupt the entire system.
Despite overwhelming popular support for public broadcasting, the
Republican leadership and partisan board members at the CPB are
attempting to gag and starve public media in America. Congress needs to
hear from the tens of millions of Americans who tune in every day -
whether it's for Big Bird or Bill Moyers, "Reading Rainbow" or "Morning
Edition."
Take Action
-----------------------------------
1. Urge your U.S.representative to restore full funding for public
broadcasting:
http://www.freepress.net/action/callcongress.php?a=savepbs
2. If you have not already done so, join 85,000 others in signing a
petition calling on the CPB chairperson to stop his partisan attacks on
programming:
http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs
More Information
-----------------------------------
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Jun/20050617News026.asp
http://www.freepress.net/publicbroadcasting/
|
|
 |
|
