Flying with NPR

This is a plea sent to me by a dear sistergirlfriend to keep the funding for public broadcasting.

There are three bills that have been introduced in the House of Representatives that would severely cut or completely eliminate funding for public broadcasting. Two focus on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, one of which would eliminate the CPB altogether and includes a 'clawback' provision that would require money already allotted to public radio and television by the CPB to be returned. The third bill specifically eliminates any federal funding to National Public Radio.



Of course, I have a conflict of interest here as an employee of a public radio station, but I'm sending you this because I think the mission of public broadcasting is important: easy access to news, cultural programs and fantastic music performances. These funding cut backs would harm the smaller stations in remote areas with listeners who depend on the radio and television content the most. They'd also be a serious blow to national programs which are paid for by carriage fees from local stations.


If you ever listen to public radio or watch public television and appreciate it, I encourage you to join http://www.170millionamericans.org/t's essentially a list of people who support public broadcasting organized by a partnership of 250 public broadcasting stations across the country (the website is quite transparent if you have questions about the partners or funding). These stations estimate that 170 million Americans use some form of public broadcasting every month, over half of all Americans. The organizers hope that when these bills are called to committee for discussion and then a broad vote, this list of people who value public broadcasting will encourage your representatives to keep its funding intact.