In case you're wondering what the fuss in congress is about this week, here is an excerpt from Pat Buchanan:
First, the United States government should not be in the news business at all. Arguments and debates about public affairs should be the province of private citizens. If the government must engage in propaganda in times of war or tension, to sell its policies abroad, the home front should remain insulated from that propaganda.
When director Bruce Herschensohn’s brilliant “Years of Lightning, Day of Drums” about JFK’s White House days was made by the United States Information Agency, it was only by special dispensation that it was allowed to be shown to the American public.
Of course what Buchanan is doing here is comparing apples and oranges. Domestic public broadcasting in the United States has no connection to the USIA... and what links it has to any executive branch agency is tenuous at best... usually for infrastructure funding (NTIA) or license regulation (FCC)... but certainly not for programming. The CPB, established as an independent corporation to administer congressional appropriations, is also meant to be the heat shield against editorial interference by government.
Second, a U.S. government that has run back-to-back deficits of $1.4 trillion and $1.3 trillion cannot afford the luxury of providing news and entertainment to a nation with hundreds of cable TV channels and hundreds of AM, FM and satellite radio stations, not to mention scores if not hundreds of nationally syndicated radio programs.
Why should taxpayers have to fund a government version of Al Franken’s Air America, when the private version went belly up? Let the PBS-NPR elite audience fund its own news and entertainment.
When public television first came on air, there were three TV networks and few cities had more than three TV stations. The case for public television, that the people need “alternative programming,” collapses when there are more channels than most of us have heard of, tailored to every conceivable taste and interest.
This is Buchanan's best point, except for one problem, that there is still a societal interest in creating a free media system for all citizens that does not exist to yield profits to private individuals but exists to yield beneficial service for the good of the citzenry itself. The fact that the market is big does not mean the market meets the vital needs of the democracy.
Consider now the words of Thomas Jefferson: “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
Yet Congresses and presidents who profess to revere Jefferson have voted for 40 years to force conservatives to pay billions of dollars through CPB, PBS and NPR to propagate leftist ideas that they disbelieve and abhor.
And so, of course, the debate comes down to liberals vs conservatives and a test of the new republican congress' commitment to the cause. We'll just have to take Buchanan's word for it that public broadcasting content is liberal pap (even though he himself is a regular on PBS's Mclaughlin Group).
In FY 2010 alone, CPB which funnels tax dollars to public television and radio stations, received $420 million. The special interests who will fight to shelter these subsidies should not be underestimated. In big cities and on many campuses, there are powerful beneficiaries and articulate advocates of public broadcasting who will paint as troglodytes any congressmen who would poach on these preserves of privilege.
Again, whether a Republican House will zero out funding for public broadcasting will be an early test of its character. If it gives CPB only a haircut and a pat on the head, the tea party folks should start recruiting candidates to run against GOP incumbents in 2012.
Patrick J. Buchanan is founding editor of The American Conservative and author, most recently, of Churchill, Hitler, and the “Unnecessary War”.
via www.amconmag.com
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Here's the rationale for public funding provided by NPR's office of advocacy:
Why Public Radio is an Essential Service for Millions of Americans
It extends service. More than 900 locally-staffed, locally-licensed and locally-programmed public radio stations employing some 10,000 people serve as a primary source of local news, community information and music to more than 260 million people living in the United States who have access to a public radio signal.
It provides more local coverage. Public radio stations are locally-owned and locally-staffed, and programming responds to the needs of the community – 29% of programming on an average public radio station is locally-produced. In rural areas, local stations are often the only source of free and high-quality local, national and international news, music and cultural programming. In rural states such as Alaska, public radio stations provide information and communication services in areas that are so isolated and sparsely populated that few commercial broadcasters reach them. More than half of rural public radio stations like these rely on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for 25% or more of their annual budgets.
It promotes public-private partnerships. Combined with other local funding sources, public radio stations have become reliable conveyors of essential programming. The revenue base for the comprehensive system of public radio stations includes funds appropriated by Congress to CPB, which in turns makes grants to local stations. The relatively small investment—amounting to only 37 cents per American per year—is leveraged by stations to attract local investments and financial support from businesses, listeners, state and local governments and universities. For every federal dollar invested through CPB, stations raise on average more than $6 on their own.
It reaches disabled Americans. Reaching un-served and underserved audiences is central to public radio’s service-oriented mission. This includes the hearing impaired and the blind and low-vision communities. Public radio stations in every major market in the United States transmit radio reading services—essentially, broadcasts of community volunteers reading newspapers, magazines and other publications—for blind and low-vision Americans. Moreover, stations help purchase and distribute special digital receivers to local listeners who rely on these services. “Captioned radio,” a groundbreaking technology that enables deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans to “listen” to radio will be available very soon.
It serves as a communications lifeline. Public radio is a communications lifeline during times of emergencies, especially when the power grid is down. FEMA routinely advises the public to make sure that radios with batteries are on hand when major storms approach. When people are instructed to evacuate, car radios become a primary instrument for receiving information about the emergency situation including evacuation routes and evacuation center locations. Effective emergency warnings allow people to take actions that save lives, reduce damage, and reduce human suffering. Dedicated public radio personnel have continued broadcasting through multiple crises such as the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Hurricanes Andrew, Hannah, Katrina, Rita and Gustav, blackouts, wildfires, ice storms, earthquakes and floods.
It promotes free and universal access to music. Public radio has created a valuable partnership that connects audiences to music and all those who devote their lives to it—performers, singer-songwriters, musicians, lyricists and composers. More than 100 stations have full-time music formats and it is estimated that music accounts for about one out of every three hours of public radio listening. Classical, jazz, folk and AAA are music formats that are often only found on public radio stations in many communities and entire states. In dozens of communities nationwide, the local public radio station is the only free and universally available source of music from these genres. This preservation role is complemented by the important promotional role public radio stations play in music today. Local stations actively highlight in-studio performances by emerging artists and local music events spanning all music genres. As online outlets proliferate, audiences increasingly turn to their local public radio stations as trusted sources for information on new artists and events.
