HELP!!!.......NPR and PBS getting slashed under Bush budget.

[Dover]

"Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling."

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.

We can make it happen if enough of us sign this petition: "Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling." Clicking here will add your name to the petition:

http://civ.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/o.pl?id=9851-3604097-bmIcLsacINNzTHAmpnHrBg&t=2

After you sign, please forward this email to your friends, family, and co-workers to keep this campaign going. We'll deliver the petition to members of Congress as they consider Bush's budget—offering a public counterpoint to this dangerous attack.


Congress can protect NPR and PBS from future cuts. The long-term solution to save public radio and TV is to:

fully restore this year's funding
guarantee a permanent funding stream free from political pressure
reform how the money is spent and keep partisan appointees from pushing a political bias

Bush's budget would cut federal funds for public broadcasting by nearly 25%.1 According to PBS, the cuts "could mean the end of our ability to support some of the most treasured educational children's series" like "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and "Arthur."2

As telecommunications chair Rep. Ed Markey said, "In a 24-7 television world with content often inappropriate for young children, the public broadcasting system represents an oasis of quality, child-oriented educational programming. We owe America's children and their parents this free, over-the-air resource."1

The cuts could also decimate one of the last remaining sources of watchdog reporting on TV—continuing the partisan war on journalism led by the ex-chair of public broadcasting, Ken Tomlinson.3 More people trust public broadcasting than any corporate news media.4 President Bush would rather undermine our free press than face reporters who are asking tough questions.

Let's put an end to the constant threats to NPR and PBS. Let's ask Congress to guarantee funding and stop partisan meddling. Clicking here will add your name to the petition:

http://civ.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/o.pl?id=9851-3604097-bmIcLsacINNzTHAmpnHrBg&t=3

Thank you for all you do.

–Noah, Marika, Eli, Adam G. and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Thursday, February 8th, 2007

P.S. Our friends at Free Press have more on how to save NPR and PBS once and for all:

http://www.freepress.net/publicbroadcasting/=policy

Sources:
1. "Bush Proposes Steep Cut to PBS Funding," TV Week, February 5, 2007
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11508

2. PBS' Ready to Learn program (funds "Sesame Street" and other children's shows)
http://www.pbs.org/readytolearn/

3. "Tomlinson Slinks Away," MediaCitizen, November 3, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2347&id=9851-3604097-bmIcLsacINNzTHAmpnHrBg&t=4

4. "2005 'Open to the Public' Objectivity and Balance Report," Corporation for Public Broadcasting, January 31, 2006
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/goals/objectivity/

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[AzDar]

1. Kick!! n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. IF, in exchange, we can fire all PNAC plants and neocons

who have done their best to destroy NPR and PBS, then it would be a small price to pay. Future admins would restore funding, but without the assholes actively eroding the standards, the fairness and the journalism practices.

[Zodiak]

3. One cannot do this

One cannot make NPR and PBS immune from political winds because poltiical winds can expose it once again should they focus on NPR and PBS once again. There is no permanence in legislation...even the Constitution itself.

I agree that these two resources should be protected from politics, though. I am afraid, however, that the right-wing takeover of both entities in the last four years or so has softened people's willingness to go to bat for them. I know I do not listen to NPR, any more...too much "CNN" news omission, obfuscation, and false balance and not enough Edward R. Morrow truth-telling.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. you and me both.

that is precisely the problem, and of course, that was precisely the goal of the bushistas.

They took aim at NPR, destroyed it from within, and now that it is a shell of its former self, it is easy to kill it off.
They took aim at many social programs, replaced them with faith based initiatives, and now it is easy to kill them off, too.

[peacetalksforall]

4. Please keep this kicked.

[we can do it]

6. Done - and Everybody Pass This On To All Your Friends

[theHandpuppet]

7. K&R!!

:kick:

[Exultant Democracy]

8. K&R

[and-justice-for-all]

9. Dont forget the Cancer research funding dipshit is cutting as well

and all for his warmongering bullshit!!...I HATE THAT PIECE OF SHIT!