Via the NYT: A Battle Over Programming at National Public Radio
Mr. Tomlinson has been waging a campaign to correct what he and other conservatives see as a liberal bias in public television programming. That effort has been criticized by leaders of public television who say it poses a threat to their editorial independence. At the request of two senior Democratic members of Congress, the inspector general at the corporation is examining whether Mr. Tomlinson’s decision to monitor only one television program, “Now,” with Bill Moyers, and his decision to retain a White House official who helped create guidelines for the two ombudsmen may have violated a law that is supposed to insulate public broadcasting from politics.But the law also assigns the corporation the responsibility of ensuring balance and objectivity in programming, a function that Mr. Tomlinson says is of paramount importance for the sustained viability and political support of public broadcasting.
I am no fan of attempts at forced balance–after wall, what exactly constitutes balance? I am an even bigger opponent to the government getting involved in editorial decisions of any kind.
As such, the solution remains clear: end taxpayer funding of NPR and PBS. Let the market decide.
And I say this as a daily listener of NPR. Indeed, if they didn’t receive tax dollars, I would likely actually contribute financially.
It is an interesting ommission in most discussion of government funding of radio & TV is the boondoggle propaganda wing of the government: the VOice of America. Their annual budget is $652 million - a 45% INCREASE over the past four years.
As a point of comparison, the COrporation for Public Broadcasting–which funds minimal percentages of the budgets of NPR, PBS and independent producers & stations–has an annual budget of $400 million.
First, lets cut VOA and its affiliates. It achieves absolutely nothing other than to cultivate resentment towards the US.
In the case of Radio Marti and TV Marti, the US spends $26.9 million for broadcasts THAT ARE NOT EVEN WATCHED since they are blocked by Castro.
Talk about worthless government spending.
I say this, by the way, as a critic of public broadcasting–not because of it’s alleged bias (which is often made without systematic analysis of programming) but because it is horribly out of touch with the diverse constiuencies that make up the US public.
Comment by kappiy — Monday, May 16, 2024 @ 6:38 pm
I am no fan of VOA. The whole concept of government run media gives me hives.
Comment by Steven Taylor — Monday, May 16, 2024 @ 8:07 pm