Public Media Funding Blog Posts
New Attack Launched on Public Media
According to press reports, Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Doug Lamborn are circulating letters in the Senate and House to rally support for cutting all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its nearly 1,300 local stations. The letters argue that the $445 million CPB budget is an “enormous” cost to taxpayers.
The letters come just a month before the CPB is supposed to deliver a report to Congress outlining how it could operate without federal funding. This timing is particularly troubling in light of a recent federal appeals court decision that opened the door to political ads on NPR and PBS stations.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
There’s good news and bad news in the world of public media funding.
First, the good news.
Adding It Up: Press Freedom, Democratic Health and Public Media Funding
This week Reporters Without Borders released its 2011–2012 Press Freedom Index, and much of the attention has focused on the fact that the United States dropped 27 places to 47th in the world, thanks in large part to the journalist arrests at Occupy Wall Street events. For a nation that has built its model of governance on freedom of the press, that ranking should be a wake-up call, and should spark a national debate about how we are going to defend the First Amendment in the digital age.
On its own, the study from Reporters Without Borders is a powerful snapshot of press freedom around the world. However, it’s worth cross-referencing the report’s findings with a few other data points to better understand how the United States stacks up, and why this ranking is so important. When the lists below are viewed side by side, it becomes clear that press freedom correlates directly with other measures of democratic health.
Change the Channels
Check out the interactive map to see consolidating newsrooms near you.
Rules for Commenting
Want to comment on something you read here at SaveTheNews.org? Responses to our blog posts are always welcome, but please be sure to observe our rules for commenting.
To submit a guest post, please contact info@freepress.net.