The Battle for Public Broadcasting

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Wall Street Lobbyists Roll Back Finance Reform, Again

Reagan's Chickens Home to Roost?

FOCUS | My Big Fat Greek Minister

Genetically Modified Democracy

Amy Goodman writes: "Now that the Republicans have taken over the House of Representatives, one of their first acts was to 'zero out' current funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Furthermore, Representative Doug Lamborn from Colorado Springs has offered a bill to permanently strip CPB funding."

Sesame Street was developed under the Great Society Initiative created by President Lyndon B. Johnson to help educate inner-city youth who were largely left behind in school. (photo: Sesame Street)

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+10 # Activista 2011-03-09 09:37

go Amy - US could be most brainwashed country there - oligarchs buy airwaves and Goebbels motto - repeat and repeat the lie works perfectly in our neo-fascist regime.

+3 # Buckles 2011-03-09 11:06

If the republicans get their way and NPR looses the funding , then the democrats should establish the fairness doctrain back that Ron Alzimer Reagan stopped back then during his daze in the presidency.

0 # Activista 2011-03-09 11:19

NPR $3 million from government – this is 0.1% of 3 billion we are giving NOW for bombs to Israel – AIPAC controls congress.
www.presstv.ir/usdetail/169044.html
and Israel is asking more - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak insisted that a democratic Middle East would make the massive U.S. military aid funding to Israel "more essential" and that they need an additional $20 billion, on top of the $3+ billion they already get annually, so the nation can increase the size of its military in the wake of all this freedom.
please digest ...

0 # AllAmerican 2011-03-22 20:57

What does Israel have to do with this article?
i mean, other than your hate?

-5 # lnason@umassd.edu 2011-03-09 11:50

Government controlled media in any country should be suspect. I enjoy some PBS programming but note that many of the news shows try to frame the debate in ways that make some current politicians look good while dismissing as anomolies those stories that put favored politicians in a bad light.

FOX has ideological bias. MSNBC has ideological bias. But anyone who doesn't understand that PBS also has ideological bias, is someone who is not looking very hard.

Our experiences with state sponsoring of media (pre-war Germany, cold-war-era USSR, or modern China just to name the most egregious examples) has shown us that government is not composed of unbiased saints -- those who rely on government for their livelihood have agendas just as we all do. Forcing people who do not support the official government line (whether on the invasion of Iraq or on the Wisconsin protests) to subsidize PBS seems immoral and unjust.

Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts

+2 # Robert Griffin 2011-03-09 12:41

State sponsoring of media (Britain and Canada to name the best known examples)...

NPR and the CPB rely fairly heavily on corporate sponsorship. I have no clear evidence that such sponsorship either does or does not influence their coverage. NPR programs often rely on input from groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Foundation. Presumably they also utilize input from more left wing foundations.
Be Well,
Bob Griffin

+2 # Glen 2011-03-09 14:08

Yes, Robert, you have a point. I noticed this a while back, and could not accept independent broadcasting from any network that accepted corporate money.

However, there is some good in both NPR and public television. The question is how to balance the good with the corporate sponsorship and to avoid radical political punishment.

+1 # Regina 2011-03-10 07:44

It was most unfortunate that PBS was driven to accept corporate sponsorship just to survive the exorbitant costs of American television. Apparently they've maintained good balance in their programming -- why else would the corporate interests controlling Congress be seeking to cut off the only decent sources of news analysis (NPR) and cultural TV programming (PBS) we have available?

+3 # Activista 2011-03-09 12:46

Lee - this $2 million (correct number) is insignificant - but keeps small local stations going without much car and bank adds.
Without NPR we would have Limbaugh propaganda everywhere. You should mention also BBC - just to name the most egregious examples ..
They accepted a meeting with a Muslim philanthropy called the Muslim Education Action Center - if it would be AIPAC - like FOX - the congress would give them millions EXTRA!

+1 # Gary Ray Pierson 2011-03-09 13:10

FOX has ideological bias. MSNBC has ideological bias. But anyone who doesn't understand that PBS also has ideological bias, is someone who is not looking very hard.
Why is it, when one station or person says the conservatives are taking over, the conservatives cry foul and try and take out any information or sources of information out.. Either buy em or get rid of em.. No different view, nobody asks questions. They don't want to complicate their lives with truth.. Then you have to pay attention.. State sponsored radio or TV is the first step to a state of dictatorship.. Kind of like what we have now. Speak up, ask questions and get shot down... We did PBS and more........... State sponsorship.. Then the only thing you'll know is what they want you to know... What has happened to investigating journalism? Oh yeah, last group to run the nation had them embedded.. I liked it better in Vietnam.. You actually had people who tried to show the truth, not just some jazzed up bull shit.. Inason, your just flat wrong. Cpl. Pierson 101st, Vietnam.......

+3 # BradFromSalem 2011-03-09 13:34

MSNBC is NOT comparable to FOX. There is absolutely no outlet for exclusively Liberal viewpoints. MSNBC has Conservatives all during their morning broadcasts. The afternoon is middle of the road reporting. Only at night does the Left get some airtime. And, forget the weekends and overnights; mostly crime stories.

The above examples of Public broadcasting ignores two vital pieces of information. The government ran the news, not just funded it; and nobody else was effectively allowed to report news.

We have gone the other way. The government barely funds any news and corporations are the only ones economically allowed to report it.

We end up with news that fails to point out the criminal activities of the corporations and the government's supporting role.

Fare and ballanced (sic) my butt.

+1 # rf 2011-03-10 05:00

I've seen right wing creep at NPR...probably to mollify politicians that would take their funding. Stories that always end with the right's spokes person, Republican spin language...as one story a few days ago that said "Reps looked at cuts as the Dems fought for their favorite programs" which is total spin language. Time NPR clean up their act...but it won't be the wealthy at NPR that pay the price...it will be the small stations across the country!

+1 # Lesabre 2011-03-10 19:48

Your examples are not good ones. pre war Germany, USSR, and China? Give me a break. I listen to a lot of NPR and find that there is almost always a person from both sides on discussions of important issues....I agree that socially they are liberal with Gay, immigrant, and various other social civil programing ect. BUT...the news is good in depth reporting without the twisted lies and half truths that I hear other places. Why can't we have the fairness doctrine back that Regan took away in broadcasting? Because the broadcasters and big money want the ability to broadcast lies. NPR does not Broadcast Lies. Murdoch can't buy NPR and broadcast more right wing cindicated lies so he's having his minions shut it down.

+2 # JohnnyK 2011-03-09 14:43

Face it folks, The mean spirited right wingers want to kill off Big Bird and kermit the frog. My kids are adults now but they grew up with Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. They are wondering why the Republicans don't want my grand kids to see this type of programing.

+2 # Betty Faas 2011-03-09 20:33

As I see it, the conservatives are being propelled by the ultra right-wing social conservatives as well as big-monied interests, such as Wall Street & multi-national corporations. They see progressives as enemies of their goals. Since they want to destroy any group or organization that supports the left, we see mass destructive actions against public broadcasting, unions, community organizers, women's healthcare & reproductive choice organizations, and on and on. After 30 years of organizing their power structure, they smell blood! They think they are close to permanent
conservative rule!

+5 # Gary Ray Pierson 2011-03-10 06:26

I get the feeling that, if they could, the GOP and it's supporters would shut up any thing and one that didn't go along with their insanity... So far, they're doing a real good job of it.. Home Land Security.. Cavity searches at air ports.. Guess they must be looking for Arabs or Muslims or just giving some retards a job.. Or, their testing how far they can go with your liberties removed.. Stand at the air port naked... Start your own Pirate radio.. We did, Peace Train.. FBI didn't like it... So we turned it up. Some of my fellow Nam vets and others stood to protest the war with Iraq, Saddam was a bastard yes. It was like going back 40 years. Idiots throwing things at people wanting peace.. Hateful beings.. And no one knows what happened to all the money sent over. That's fiscal responsibility. And Water Boarding, that's a Moral Majority thing.. Good people don't go shoving laws down peoples throats.. Good people let other people be what they want to be, as long as no harm is done to others.. Seems some just don't care who gets hurt.. Isn't it a pity, isn't it a shame.. Shame on you Bush, GOP and the very rich... Like I've said before, I've killed better people in Vietnam........ ..... Cpl. Pierson 101st Vietnam

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