ACTION ALERT!: Stop Congress From Killing Public Broadcasting ...

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Monday June 13, 2005 · 10:52 AM PDT

2005/06/13 · 10:52

Hi folks. We are sending out an action alert to our list in a bit. Here is our post from Common Cause President Chellie Pingree, which just went up on CommonBlog.

We are targeting the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee, which voted for a drastic cut in funding for public broadcasting. Give them a call and also send an email to your representative as well. Here is the info:

Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) (202) 225-5861
Vice-Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH) (202) 225-3876

Last week a House subcommittee voted to cut funding for public broadcasting, aiming to radically change programming on National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The proposed cuts include $23.4 million in federal funds for children's educational shows, such as "Sesame Street," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," and "Arthur." The loss of these shows would deprive millions of American children of valuable educational programming.

The subcommittee also voted to "zero out" or eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). That loss would be about 15 percent of public broadcasting's total revenues. Small stations serving rural communities and minority audiences would be particularly hard hit by these cuts because they operate on very tight budgets and in many cases are one of the only stations serving the community.

We need to kill this funding-cut proposal immediately. Please call the leadership of the Appropriations Committee today and demand that they immediately work to restore full funding for public broadcasting:

Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) (202) 225-5861
Vice-Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH) (202) 225-3876

Call these leaders and ask them not to meddle with the funding for public broadcasting. In addition, please email your Member of Congress and let him or her know that you oppose efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting:

http://www.commoncause.org/savepublicbroadcasting

We must take these actions today. Last week's vote was "a malicious wounding, if not outright attempted murder, of public broadcasting in America."

This type congressional effort to cut funding for public broadcasting is not new. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) unsuccessfully tried to eliminate funding for public broadcasting in the 90s and there are still some in Congress who share his vision. And, it is not a surprise that the congressional opponents of public broadcasting have chosen this time to renew their efforts, considering the powerful friend they have on their corner, Kenneth Tomlinson, the chairman of CPB.

Mr. Tomlinson is waging an all-out campaign to politicize the CPB and interfere with the editorial independence of NPR and PBS because he thinks they are biased. Tomlinson and his friends in Congress, who are trying to gut public broadcasting, cling to this opinion despite the results of two recent CPB-funded polls that showed that Americans in overwhelming numbers view public broadcasting as a trusted source of news and information.

This is why we need to move fast to fend off these overt attacks on public broadcasting, which a vast majority of Americans find to be a "trustworthy" source of information. So please contact Representative Lewis at (202) 225-5861 or Representative Regula at (202) 225-3876, as well as your member of Congress and urge them to restore funding for public broadcasting.

Let us know how your calls are going by posting your comments right here on our blog. Of course let us know if you have any questions and feedback on our campaign. We will be reading and replying to all of your queries, engaging in discussion the best we can

Thank you again for all you do for Common Cause.

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