This is not just another lament for the slow systematic strangling of NPR by the Conservative Ministry of Propaganda. I really want to know-- from lawyers, staffers, journalists and other pros reading this-- what actions are available. Do we have legal recourse? Is this a matter for Congress? For the ACLU?
Or are we just going to stand by and watch them utterly destroy Public Broadcasting? Are we helpless?
First the News, courtesy of the Washington Post:<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601598.html>
Two new officials have been appointed to the Corp of Public Broadcasting,
Cheryl F. Halpern, chairman, Gay Hart Gaines, as its vice chairman-- both are GOPer fundraisers, big time, and Gringrich-trained activists. Wapo says:
With the changes, conservatives with close ties to the Bush administration have assumed control of every important position at the agency, which distributes about $400 million in federal funds to noncommercial radio and TV stations and is supposed to act as a buffer against outside political influence.
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She <Halpern> has in the past been critical of NPR's reporting on the Middle East, particularly its coverage of the Israeli government. During her confirmation hearings for a seat on the CPB board in 2003, Halpern suggested that CPB members should have the authority to penalize public broadcasting journalists who air biased programs. When she was a member of the federal agency that oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, she said during her confirmation hearing, "We were able to remove physically somebody who had engaged in editorialization of the news."
They defunded the levees in NOLA and nobody did anything. Not really. Until, inevitably, the big Cat 5 Hurricane arrived. Mutatis mutandi, we're in the same position here. From time to time during Tomlinson's reign, diaries were posted. People ranted, debated, shrugged, and moved on. But now we're just passing the tipping point & the question becomes urgent. Are we willing to do anything? What, in this instance, does productive action spectifically look like?