Bush trying to cut NPR and PBS... AGAIN

[jilln]

From MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,
George W. Bush is trying—yet again—to slash funding for NPR and PBS. This week, Bush proposed a new budget with devastating cuts to public broadcasting.1 "Sesame Street" and other ad-free kids' shows are under the knife. So is the independent journalism our country needs.

Enough is enough. We've fought this fight before and won—but we can't afford the risk anymore. With the new Congress, we can make sure this never happens again. We need Congress to insulate NPR and PBS from the political winds.

petition at:

[http://civ.moveon.org/c4/publicbroadcasting/?referring_id=9851-3461124-yR6JnVOizYYyk5F9OPcyvw\

[whometense]

1. He is

astoundingly - and horrifyingly - predictable, isn't he?

[no_hypocrisy]

2. * hates anything he can't understand. n/t

[whometense]

3. True.

He also hates (and fears) anything he can't control 100%.

I imagine NPR and PBS are still too functional in journalism for his comfort.

[Bucky]

9. And this hatred explains why he's going after Sesame Street.

Some of those words on that show.... so hard to understand...

[KingofNewOrleans]

4. Hey, gotta make sacrifices

to pay for Iraq. They don't teach anything about being a soldier on Sesame Street anyway.

[Uncle Joe]

5. The continued dumbing down of America in all it's glory.

If you believe the truth will set you free, then lies and ignorance will enslave you, and I sincerely believe Bush dreams of an ignorant, docile nation of unquestioning sheep.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. Who Cares?

Any network that gives Sean Hannity a talk show? That predictably reports the corporate POV?

I checked out with NPR when they did their piece several years ago on granting MFN trading status to China. Their "range of opinion" included three Wall Street types who seemed to be in a contest to see who could gush the most over the wonders of this deal. Human Rights Advocates talking about sweatshop labor? Not a word. Union Representatives talking about the effect on American manufacuturing? Weren't invited. Environmental Advocates talking about China's gruesome record on environmental and worker safety? Uh, no.

Screw them.

[w4rma]

7. It's a government-run media outlet. That will change when the GOP doesn't run the government. (nt)

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

8. No it won't...

It started going corporatist years ago. We have the internet, screw television.

[w4rma]

10. Yeah. Give up on radio. Give up on TV. Give up on newspapers, too. Not smart. (nt)

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. Yeah. Give up on the horse. Give up on the Blacksmith.

PBS is one channel out of several hundred on cable, and nearly everything they do (other than Sesame Street) is done as well or better somewhere else. Same with radio -- webcasting makes both of them obsolete.

And where's the government-funded newspaper you're telling me about?

[w4rma]

12. No. Radio and TV are far from obsolete.

And I'm not telling you about a government funded newspaper, because there isn't one. Progressive outlets don't have to be government funded.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

13. They are totally obsolete...

And getting more obsolete every day. We already have internet-based radio (I'm listening to Thom Hartmann right now, and I'm nearly 100 miles from the closest AAR station) that can reach people just as effectively as broadcast. The fact is that one individual with a broadband connection can reach an audience as large as Rush Limbaugh's, or achieve a circulation larger than that of the New York Times.

Traditional media is dead. Still twitching, but dead.