Some Scenarios If Congress Cuts Public Broadcasting Funding

[Mark_Giardina]

If the House of Representatives passes legislation recommended by a Congressional committee to cut 45% of government funding to Public Broadcasting, here are some scenarios that might happen to your local NPR/PBS station. I stress the point might happen because each station’s financial situation is different.

The first thing management will want to do is cut expenses. That could mean eliminating jobs, programming or a reduction in the amount of money a station may contribute to the TIAA-CREF, or other retirement system. If a station is unionized management might want to renegotiate existing contracts. Stations already understaffed may be forced to impose a hiring freeze.

Some affiliates might not be able to afford some NPR programs, like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. NPR executives should consider using some of that Joan Kroc endowment and reduce the cost of some network programs to affiliates as one way for stations to afford to continue airing these shows.

More of an effort will have to be made to secure funding, not just from underwriters, but the general public. That will mean more pledge drives, much to the chagrin of listeners and viewers. One has to wonder if the newspaper editorial writers, and commentators, who are bemoaning cuts in public broadcasting actually contribute to their local NPR/PBS stations?

I have one final suggestion to make. Some public stations are top-heavy with managers who make a great deal of money. Before management considers layoffs it would be only fair that the pink slips are not just handed out to the worker bees. Of course we know that when layoffs do occur some top executives always manage to keep their jobs while those on the bottom of the food chain are the first to go.

<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>

 

[Jay_Surly]

Cuts To Funding NPR/PBS

The agenda of right wing, republican-conservatives in Congress is downright scary, yet it does not surprise me in the least. The “downsizing” and “right-sizing” of NPR/PBS is just another example of how the Bush-Cheney-DeLay administration hopes to mute dissent and objective reporting and analysis. The abolition of NPR/PBS by way of cutting funding and slowly suffocating it, is just another way for the right wing zealots to impose their doctrine on Americans.

It smacks of some of the tactics employed by the Third Reich. Create a story, repeat it frequently and position it as good for the common man. It’s the Big Lie theory. The genuinely sorry thing is, so many Americans buy into the policies of the present administration, even as they are adversely affecting them.

Don’t expect any of the Big Three to come to the defense and assistance of NPR and PBS. ABC, CBS and NBC are fighting their own battles and they’d delight in seeing a major competitor ham-strung by this administration. The Big Three know full well that their newscasts are losing viewers (and listeners) to cable and other electronic sources.

Baby Boomers (like me) tune to PBS/NPR because we know we can count on in depth, issues-oriented, objective news coverage not found on local news-talk radio and TV stations owned by Infinity, Entercom, Cox, Clear Channel, Citadel and other media conglomerates. Don’t count on these companies, certainly not Sinclair, to provide the public with full and accurate coverage of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sinclair has already proven itself to be nothing more than a cheerleader for this administration’s policies.

But why should we not be surprised? Corporations that owe their existence and well being to the government own radio and television stations that are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. The networks, primarily ABC, CBS and NBC, are running scared. They hold broadcast licenses worth billions of dollars, which can be revoked or made difficult to renew should they create too many problems for the administration. This is not a left-wing canard, it is reality.

The mainstream media have been brought to their knees and compromised by this administration. Where were the poignant questions and investigative reports regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? What of the issues regarding search and seizure contained in the Patriot Act? And what of the Downing Street Memos which clearly indicate the Bush administration had planned to attack Iraq long before 9/11, this despite an oil embargo and a very effective no-fly-zone impose on Iraq.

Ask questions and you, individually and organizationally, are dismissed or labeled un-American and not supporting the War On Terror. Or your broadcast licenses are put in jeopardy.

ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC have covered the events of the past four years constantly looking over their shoulders. Fox News is little more than the mouthpiece of the administration and the Republican National Committee. The Republicans in Congress say all they want of NPR/PBS is fair and balanced reporting, which means they really want news reporting to reflect their political agenda. In the news business, there should be no sloganeering like “fair and balanced,” there should be only accurate and objective. This is what PBS and NPR provide on a daily basis.

The next ploy to expect from Bush, Rove, Card, DeLay and other members of the right wing is the further promulgation of NPR/PBS as “liberal and left leaning.” There will be more sloganeering about “the liberal media,” this despite the fact that the media literally overflows with national talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, G. Gordon Liddy and countless local sound-alikes.

You can also expect the administration to widely publish and disseminate the salaries of the highest paid NPR/PBS executives, framing the campaign along the lines of “the public’s money being spent on liberal, left leaning executives, wasting American tax dollars.” Of course, nothing will be said of the nearly $300 billion the administration has squandered on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It certainly wouldn’t hurt NPR/PBS to pre-emptively impose a pre-emptive wage freeze or cut upon themselves rather than subject the rank and file workers who report, research and produce the programming to possible loss of jobs.

As many readers know, I am a fan of radio and especially of WBFO and WNED-AM. WBFO has begun airing position-statements regarding funding cuts. Dr. Carole Smith Petro, Associate Vice President and General Manager of WBFO can be heard making the case for NPR/PBS and WBFO in particular. As educated and knwoledgeable as Dr. Smith Petro may be, she is a surprisingly inadequate spokesperson for the station.

WBFO would be better served by having its morning hosts, News Director and Program Director read the message. It would also be advisable to have John B. Simpson, President of the University at Buffalo, read the message.

Best regards,

Janos Surlikevich

 

[radiokat]

Re: Pubic radio will never be slienced *DELETED*

Post deleted by swalterm

 

[dampier]

Re: Pubic radio will never be slienced

> and mever will the gay and lesbian ommunitiy! Mark
> Giradina!
--- crud deleted---

Gee, I dunno... I've never felt Mark persecute me. In fact, the only persecution I felt was trying to decipher the most incomprehensible and poorly written post on this board EVER.

Shoo.