----------------------------Original message----------------------------
While it's exciting to actually be having a debate on this list which tends
to be less heating than most out there, there are two key points about this
issue that have not been raised:
 
1.  Cutting funding for public broadcasting affects far more than just PBS,
NPR, & CPB.  It will destroy numerous small public broadcasters in local
markets.  Here in my backyard, the excellent community radio station WORT,
whose wide range of programming includes ethnic musics, Pacifica News, gay
& lesbian public affairs, local live coverage of key political events, and
anything else you can't imagine hearing on a corporate station, depends on
governmental funding for 25% of its already depleted operating budget.  I
can't find the exact figure, but this costs the govt somewhere around
$30,000 annually.  The real losers in Newt & Larry's Bogus Journey will not
be the heavy hitters in public broadcasting, but the local stations that
really do provide unique programming.
 
2.  Mr. Jarvik's good point about CPB / PBS not needing govt support to
maintain profitability is well taken.  But using that logic, shouldn't we
cut out all of the pork that Ralph Nader aptly calls "Corporate Welfare"?
The amount of money the government spends in subsidizing the paychecks of
CEO's throughout the land makes public broadcasting look like a pebble in
the Grand Canyon.
 
Keep the debate debating!
-j
 
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jajasoon tlitteu  ([log in to unmask])
 
"Life is a series of flesh cartoons with various characters painlessly
rupturing themselves like Tom and Jerry."