It seemed odd that when Gov. Romney cited two government funded programs that he would cut, one of them was PBS. On the PBS website, I found that government funding was only 15% of their funding, and that it only amounted to $444 million a year. While it may seem a large amount, the debate was talking about cuts of Trillions of dollars, not less than half a billion of dollars, or less than one tenth of one percent.
I wrote a letter to my Congressman about not cutting PBS and NPR, and urge others to do so who are interested in education. The letter stated that Irvine is a highly educated and professional community, and that the value of PBS is far more than Big Bird and Sesame Street, in adding to the educational and cultural life of the adults and children in the community. Since the Congressman is a Republican, I pointed out that the government funding supported many stations in Republican rural states, where the funding may support 40 or 50 percent of these small stations.
I also speculated that Romney singled out this ant on the funding landscape because the station is fair and balanced, which is seen by the right as a liberal media bias, and he would score points with them by cutting out its funding. There also is a Congressional bill to do this. (It also might intimidate the moderator to tell him his salary was also on the line.)
Supposedly, conservatives want them to make up the difference by advertising. Actually a form of advertising already occurs by the list of the donors, foundations, and businesses that sponsor the various presentations. This includes the conservative billionaire Koch brothers.
Of course we haven’t even discussed Big Bird and Sesame Street, and their importance in educating pre-school and young children in English and elementary math, especially in poor or foreign speaking households. Public TV provides this service for a minuscule fraction of the cost it would take for community based services to do this.
Even as a businessman, I don’t recall Romney using the words “cost effectiveness”, but in all of the applications discussed above, PBS and NPR funding is an exemplar of this.
Please urge your Congress persons to support this funding.
