Public Broadcasting and Noncommercial Media

You probably remember Ken Tomlinson's crusade to counter "liberal advocacy journalism" at PBS and NPR. Public pressure forced him to resign as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) amid charges that he misused power and injected his personal politics into the agency. But the partisan attack on public broadcasting continues.

Last month, President Bush nominated Warren Bell to the CPB board. He's a television sitcom producer who has described himself as "thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues." Brazen partisanship - on either side of the aisle - has no place in the governance of public broadcasting. In fact, the CPB was established specifically to provide a firewall from political interference. We will challenge the confirmation of any brazen partisans nominated to the board.

Meanwhile, the House recently voted for a 23 percent cut in funding for the CPB. The Senate approved full funding, but the two bills will be reconciled in December behind closed doors. We will need to raise the volume and ensure that public broadcasting is protected. At the same time, we are working toward long-term reform that gets public broadcasting away from running the annual funding gauntlet.


The Big Picture

That's where things are in a nutshell. Together we have managed to stop nearly every major threat from Big Media during the last three years. Together, we can not only stop the next attack, but advance a vision: more investigative, critical journalism; smarter entertainment, less commercialism - a media system that supports and nourishes democracy, rather than one that undermines it.

Thanks so much for being part of Free Press and the movement for media reform.

All the best,


Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net



P.S. Here are some links for more information, and a few laughs:

-- Check out all the amazing SavetheInternet.com videos - and find links to The Daily Show's hilarious take on the topic -- at http://www.savetheinternet.com/=videos

-- Read this article about the state of the telecom bill in Congress http://www.freepress.net/news/16856

-- You can find information on the upcoming Town Meetings on the Future of Media here: http://www.freepress.net/future/

-- Read about the letter on media ownership to Chairman Martin from 84 members of Congress here: http://www.stopbigmedia.com/blog/

-- See the full story on the nomination of partisan operative Warren Bell to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting here: http://www.freepress.net/news/16512

-- You can keep up on the latest news on media issues and activism by signing up for Media Reform Daily here: http://www.freepress.net/news/subscribe.php

http://action.freepress.net/freepres...=17NOZyn15Bw1E
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