By Robert Romano – This year alone, American taxpayers spent $420 million to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
As America holds a $14.1 trillion debt, many fiscally conservative organizations and politicians are calling for taxpayer funding to end as well as asking for airtime on the publically funded stations to get their message heard.
Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson is demanding that the CPB give equal time for an advertisement urging that Congress defund public broadcasting.
“The debate over taxpayer funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has clearly reached a level where disparate opposing points of view should be allowed on stations that receive taxpayer dollars to fund programming,” Wilson wrote in his letter to the CPB.
The letter cites ads that have been run by the CPB: “Currently, television stations that receive taxpayer funds through the CPB, including WETA which broadcasts in the Washington, DC area, are posting a video clip on their website called ‘Let Congress Know How You Feel’ extolling the virtues of public broadcasting and encouraging viewers to contact their Congressmen.”
ALG has in turn requested equal air time, free of any cost, with a 30-second video, “ALG Wants You To Help Defund Public Broadcasting.”
Wilson noted that the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 requires that the CPB operate with a “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.”
ALG makes this request to CPB after Sen. DeMint and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) have already introduced legislation in the Senate calling for the taxpayer defunding of CPB.
On the House side, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) introduced H.R. 5538, which would effectively prohibit federal funding for CPB after FY 2012.
“Public broadcasting stations airing PSAs calling for continued taxpayer funding should give equal time to the opposing view. Their audiences are entitled to hear both sides of the issue. The federal government is broke and cannot afford to borrow more money for programs that can stand on their own,” says Rep. Lamborn.
ALG’s letter to CPB concluded with this statement by Wilson, “Public broadcasting advocates have loudly proclaimed that you provide a balanced voice for those who otherwise would not have their message heard, now it is time to prove it by running this 30-second piece that balances the position that you are already articulating.”
Both ALG and politicians hope to see the ad running soon on their local taxpayer-sponsored PBS stations.
Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government.
