With the state of our economy, we must all understand that federal spending cuts must be made. The trick here, however, is deciding which cuts seem most appropriate. Among the $61 billion in total funding cuts toward institutions including Planned Parenthood and Pell Grants, House Republicans have approved a $430 million cut in federal spending to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. We can’t blame the House for urging various spending cuts, but did CPB need to be this significant of a target? The answer is no.
Before the reduction was approved, CPB was being funded $531 million. Now, the House has passed a proposal to cut nearly all of their subsidies, leaving CPB only $131 million, practically clearing out federal spending as a whole for the corporation.
The Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn’s second — and now successful — attempt to cut CPB funding is a result of National Public Radio’s alleged leftist bias. “Public broadcasting cannot simultaneously be a creature of the state and serve the necessary Fourth Estate function as a government watchdog, he told the Washington Times.” But NPR has maintained journalistic integrity regardless of party control in government.
Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer said in his recent statement to Fox News, “Up until now support for public broadcasting has always been bipartisan. This is the very first time it was a complete partisan move.” We couldn’t agree more with this statement.
Why else would House Republicans only target CPB and NPR? After all, Voice of America, a publicly funded news organization, is not being targeted. We think this probably because House Republicans agree with that public news source’s worldview.
CPB provides funds for two major broadcasting programs: NPR and Public Broadcasting Service. According Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, CPB has an estimated total of 170 million listeners and provides work for more than 17,000 people.
If CPB still has a little more than half of the United States population’s attention, then why are we siding with the half who think the news being produced is too subjective? Wouldn’t siding with the half who wishes to cut funding for a biased news service be just be as biased? We think yes.
Allegations of subjectivity coming from House Republicans should not carry the authority to cut this public service’s budget by close to 80 percent.
What happen to the First Amendment right to free speech and press? Is John Boehner going to cut funding to public universities that he thinks are too left? The point here is subjective claims of subjectivity do not merit government action.
True, a cut in government funding to CPB does not necessarily order them to discontinue their news production. It does, however, instate an indirect government shutdown. Not funding is not the same as cutting funding, the latter being an indirect violation of freedom of speech.
Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps argued that the stories being released by news organizations today are solely “opinion based on opinion and too little news based on fact.” In order to avoid the recent rise in partisan news, Copps suggested to launch a “Public Value Test,” which would establish criteria that broadcasters would have to carry out in order to be permitted a broadcasting license renewal. This, at least, is a better approach to the problem than simply cutting funds for one of the “biased” news organizations. A Public Value Test would be more fair. If NPR goes so does FOX News, the liberal might say.
It is important CPB and NPR continue to receive an amount of funding closer to the previous $531 million. Such drastic cuts are unnecessary. Why should public broadcasting, “[get] the ax,” as Blumenauer put it?
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.
