Dear .....,
Yesterday, the House voted overwhelmingly -- by a margin of 284 to 140 -- to restore $100 million to the budget for public broadcasting.
Representatives reversed course because their phones were ringing off the hook and their mailboxes were jammed with letters and e-mails from millions of Americans. Your message came through loud and clear: Stop playing politics with public broadcasting.
We scored a stunning victory -- but public broadcasting isn't safe yet. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where Free Press and our allies are working to win back more than $100 million (for children's programming and satellite and digital upgrades) stripped away by partisan operatives on the House Appropriations Committee. We must keep up the pressure on Capitol Hill.
Here's how you can help:
more below...
1.
Mobilize others. for the next fight to restore funding in the Senate. Recruit five of your friends to sign up as Free Press activists.
http://www.freepress.net/action/signup.php
2. Go local. We're planning a series of house parties and town meetings this summer and fall to put the public back in public broadcasting. But we need your help. Join the Free Press Action Squad and we'll be in touch with more information on how to get directly involved in your community.
http://www.freepress.net/action/squad/signup.php
3. Support the Free Press Action Fund. Your donation will support the campaign to save public broadcasting today and build a noncommercial media system that serves Americans for generations to come.
http://www.freepress.net/support/
We should savor this victory today but steel ourselves for the fight ahead.
Onward,
Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
Free Press
http://www.freepress.net
P.S. -- Every silver lining has a cloud. In a brazenly partisan maneuver, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting yesterday tapped Patricia Harrison, former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as its next president. This is just the latest in CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson's efforts to remake public broadcasting into a mouthpiece for the White House.
P.P.S. -- Nearly 100,000 people have signed our petition calling on Tomlinson to resign. We need 100,000 more signatures. Please forward this message to everyone you know and ask them to add their names.
http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs