The high-pitched pundits of Fox News Channel have had their sites aimed at NPR nonstop since the radio network sacked analyst Juan Williams last week for likening all Muslims to terrorists.
They've not only tried to turn Williams into some kind of media martyr (though it's hard to feel too sorry for a guy who was unemployed for about 20 minutes before signing a $2 million deal with Fox) but have gone so far as to stalk NPR President Vivian Schiller on the streets of D.C.
The Williams' hullabaloo has dominated the headlines, but Fox News and its Republican allies are hunting much larger game: Big Bird.
Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove and Megyn Kelly, among others, have taken to the air calling on Congress to wholly defund public broadcasting. They don't just want to silence NPR, but to pull the plug on every network, station and program that gets public support -- from PBS to Pacifica. They want to freeze out Frontline and foreclose on Sesame Street.
On The Factor, O'Reilly called for "immediate suspension of every taxpayer dollar" going to public media. "We're going to get legislation," he said. "We're going to freeze it down, so they don't get any more money."
On cue, Sen. Jim DeMint (R -S.C.) promised to introduce legislation that would do just that: zero out $420 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which supports stations that offer important public affairs programs such as The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and All Things Considered. Eliminating funds would kill the successful "Ready to Learn" program, which supports children's shows, including Sesame Street, Arthur and Dragon Tales.
"There's ... no reason to force taxpayers to subsidize liberal programming they disagree with," DeMint said late last week.
What We Get from Public Media
The right's gamble here is that their efforts to paint public broadcasting as the voice of encroaching socialism will fire up the passions of some Americans, a week before many of us head to the polls.
"NPR is a public institution that directly or indirectly exists because the taxpayers fund it. And what do we, the taxpayers, get for this?" asked Sarah Palin.
Well, according to poll after poll, the taxpayers believe that they get a lot -- not just the educational programming that brings us Big Bird, but also hard-hitting journalism that the much of the commercial media have abandoned.
According to the nonpartisan Roper polling firm, Americans rank PBS as the second "most valuable" service taxpayers receive for their money, outranked only by national defense. Moreover, a majority of the public believe the amount of federal funding public broadcasting receives is "too little."
Comparatively, this is true. The United States already has one of the lowest levels of federal funding of public media in the developed world -- at just $1.43 per capita; Canada spends $22 per capita; England spends $80; people in Finland and Denmark spend much more. And it's no coincidence that the nations with highest public media funding seem to do a far better job producing journalism that challenges government and corporations and upsets the status quo.
And maybe that's what scares Palin's crew the most. Perhaps their goal in all of this, as has been suggested elsewhere, is not to slash funding for public broadcasting but to scare public broadcasters into presenting news with a slant more favorable to the right.
Why Bashing Big Bird Will Backfire
Whatever the rationale, their tactics are a proven loser.
Every time PBS and NPR have come under attack, the American public has risen up in protest to defend -- not defund -- it. A similar right-wing push in 2005 failed after more than a million people contacted Congress demanding that full funding be restored. Attacking public media also ended up hurting Nixon in the 1970s, Reagan in the 1980s, and Newt Gingrich in the 1990s.
In just a few days, hundreds of thousands of people already have mobilized in defense of Big Bird and better journalism. You can add your voice here.
Here's hoping this time we don't just stop yet another assault on public media, but actually start solving the structural problems with the system that has left it underfunded and overexposed to these types of political shenanigans.
Follow Timothy Karr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TimKarr
No less a light than Thomas Jefferson had THIS to say on the subject:
“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.”
So I say, carry on, Palin, Huckabee, Gingrich et al - rail at NPR and PBS - you might just close the enthusiasm gap all on your own!
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which covers both radio and television, gets $90 million per year in federal funding that goes to member public radio stations. Not NPR itself but your local NPR affiliate.
NPR has to apply for grants to get money from the CPB, and those grants only make up about 2 percent of the overall NPR budget.
About ten percent of member stations' budgets comes from the federal government. Forty percent of NPR's budget, in turn, comes from station fees. So the percentage of NPR's budget that is made up of federal money coming via station fees would be relatively small but not insignificant.
I have blogged about it here: http://mediafreedom.org/2010/10/the-npr-model-for-public-media-a-virtual-pravda/
The other aspect that gets under private industry's craw is the public funding. NPR, etc. compete directly with private outlets that - but for their government-granted licenses - have to take private risk to operate.
And In poll after poll of the American public says they want their taxpayer money to fund public broadcasting:
>> Public broadcasting ranks as the second most valuable service taxpayers receive for their money, outranked only by national defense.
>> A majority of the public believe the amount of federal funding public broadcasting receives is "too little."
>> Most Americans (82%) believe that public and private funding given to public broadcasting from government is "money well spent."
Every two years or so ultra-conservatives trot out these efforts to "defund" public broadcasting. But it’s a classic overreach... and an under-estimation of the will of the American public.
They introduce bills, which are met with a massive hue and cry from people across the political spectrum.
This is where right-wing ideology collides with public sentiment. Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich Bill O’Reilly and their followers in Congress have miscalculated. People want their money to support real journalism and educational programming at a time when commercial media has failed us so completely.
Public broadcasting offers programs that are not found elsewhere and of far greater educational and cultural value through its fine arts, children's, science (NOVA) and history programming. Between 53% and 60% of funding comes from private donations via their "viewers like you" campaign and not the government.
FOX's reaction to NPR may actually be because of this: according to Arbitron, NPR stations reach 32.7 million people. Corporate sponsorships make up 26 percent of revenue, and 40% comes from fees charged to affiliates. According to Wikipedia, only 6 percent of member station fees came from local government and 10 percent came from Federal government. Ironically, in 2005, NPR was accused of both liberal and conservative bias.
The government does not "full fund" public broadcasting, but I believe their small investment in high quality programs that do not involve "the situation" or the "Real Housewives" of anything, is worthwhile.
NPR and PBS certainly have work to do, but they appear to me to be one of the last bastions of good taste and cultural programming - without having to rely (succumb?) to advertiser pressure - in the United States.