PBS battle: Republican plan to cut funding could shoot down Big Bird
Imagine public television programming in Nebraska without "Masterpiece Theatre." Or "Frontline." Or "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Or even "Sesame Street."
Rod Bates can't — but he said the scenario isn't so far-fetched, especially if federal funding is eliminated from the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications budget.
"The federal funds by and large pretty much pay for all the PBS programming," the NET general manager said. "In a simple way, all PBS programming would go away. If all PBS programming goes away, we would have a serious problem because it's the bulk of our schedule."
Bates is one of several public broadcasting administrators closely monitoring events in Washington, D.C., these days.
Three weeks ago, a group of more than 100 conservative House Republicans proposed $500 billion in spending cuts to offset the cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Among their suggestions was eliminating $400 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the agency that funnels money to PBS, NPR and other public broadcasters.
Bates doubts the CPB will lose funding in this budget session, but he’s not so sure about next year or the next or the next.
“As we face the daunting issues of the debt associated to Katrina, Rita, Iraq, Afghanistan, energy costs and everything else, how are we going to pay for this, especially if there’s an appetite for a tax cut?” he said. “The only place to go for that is discretionary money, and we’re in that mix. As we look out a year or two, yeah, I think we have to watch very, very carefully.”
The proposed cut is the latest instance of public broadcasting finding itself in a political turf war. The year has been rife with battles, ranging from a cartoon bunny visiting a lesbian couple to former CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson hiring a consultant to monitor PBS content to the appointment of Bush campaign contributor Sandra Halpern as Tomlinson’s successor.
“When you see who’s on the (CPB) board, who’s elected to what and so on and so forth, it really has a chilling effect on everything,” Bates said. “I don’t think there’s any question it’s become somewhat politicized.”
In fact, public broadcasting has become such a political hot potato that PBS president Pat Mitchell has spent as much time this past year defending her network as promoting it.
“I describe it as being on the front line,” she told the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch in August. “Every time you can put down your weapon and use peacetime to build for the future, a fire breaks out. I’ve felt I suit up like a fireman and say, ‘Where’s the fire today?’”
This isn’t anything new. Public broadcasting has been a political football since the CPB’s founding in 1967.
Proponents say government-funded programming is necessary because it provides an alternative to commercial fare. They say PBS is unique because it doesn’t have to worry about ratings or answer to advertisers.
Critics argue that PBS no longer make can make that exclusivity claim because of the proliferation of specialized cable networks such as Nickelodeon, Discovery and National Geographic. They also say that corporate donors are, in fact, advertisers.
Critics also say it’s time for Big Bird to stand on his own two floppy feet, that sales from “Sesame Street” merchandise (lunch boxes, pajamas, etc.) can help subsidize the loss of federal funds.
Proponents say public broadcasting systems such as Nebraska’s and those in less populated areas would have trouble surviving or even face possible extinction without government money. Bates said NET’s infrastructure — with nine towers and 14 translators — costs 15 times more than New York City’s one tower, but reaches one-tenth the number of listeners.
“These are old debates,” said Rick Alloway, University of Nebraska-Lincoln broadcasting professor, and they will never go away. “A lot of people feel the same way about the National Endowment for the Arts. They say why should my tax dollars be used to support this stuff?”
In the middle of all of this is the CPB, which was formed to serve as a buffer between politics and programming. But in reality, it’s been the opposite. The president appoints the nine-member board, with a majority of the seats going to members of his party.
The past year has been a highly visible political tug of war on the public broadcasting front.
In February, conservatives took exception to PBS airing a controversial episode of "Postcards From Buster," an animated children's program funded in part by the Department of Education's Ready to Learn initiative.
Buster met a lesbian couple in the episode, which was part of a series in which the bunny also met Mormons, the Hmong, Orthodox Jews, Pentecostal Christians and people from the Gullah culture in South Carolina.
NET Television elected not to run the episode. Bates said the decision was made internally and not in response to a public or political outcry.
"It was a very delicate subject to put in the children's block of time," Bates said. "Had it been in prime time for adults, we wouldn't have had any problem whatsoever.
"There's a tendency on the part of parents to put their kids in front of the television set when it's PBS and walk away knowing they can trust them," he added. "With this kind of thing, the subject matter wasn't the problem, the problem was it should be done with parents aware of it."
More recently, Tomlinson concluded a tumultuous two-year run as CPB chairman, which included an aggressive attempt on his part to balance what he said was overly liberal programming in public television and radio. His primary target was “Now” host Bill Moyers, who left PBS in December.
Tomlinson, who is still on the board, is under investigation by CPB’s inspector general for hiring a consultant to monitor PBS’ public affairs programming, including Moyers’ show. The inspector general also is checking whether or not Tomlinson acted properly in hiring two Republican lobbyists without the agency’s knowledge.
Replacing Tomlinson is Halpern. She and with her husband, Fred, are longtime financial supporters of Republican candidates, including President Bush. Halpern has pledged to remain impartial, as has Patricia Harrison who was named in May as CPB president and chief operating officer. Harrison is a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Tomlinson said he had no regrets for the action he took.
“If I threatened the cozy atmosphere of public broadcasting over the failure to balance the liberal advocacy journalism of Bill Moyers, so be it,” he said in a Sept. 23 New York Times article. “This thing of balance is not rocket science, and that is why I had so little tolerance for public broadcasting’s inability to achieve balance. Let the record show that I gave as good I got.”
The balance issue tends to rankle those in public broadcasting, especially when the public hasn’t objected. A February 2004 RoperASW Poll found that PBS ranked first in public trust, ahead of broadcast networks, newspapers and Congress.
Christine Lesiak, an NET Television executive producer, recalled a program she produced on gambling and noted how hard she worked hard to make it “balanced.”
“It turned out to be the most boring thing,” said Lesiak, who won a prestigious Peabody Award for her documentary on William Jennings Bryan and Scopes trial.
“I learned I don’t have to be balanced, but I have to be fair,” she added. “There is a difference between the two.”
Still, it’s interesting to note that PBS hired an ombudsman on Oct. 5 to serve as an in-house critic. Michael Getler, who spent the past five years as The Washington Post’s ombudsman, is the first to serve in that capacity for PBS, and the first for any national television network.
PBS chief Mitchell told The Washington Post she was thinking about an ombudsman position before Tomlinson began his crusade, but realizes that perception will be different.
“It’s obviously been a concern to me that any move we make now is interpreted as a response to his criticism,” she told the paper.
The announcement follows on the heels of a move by conservative Republicans to ax CPB’s funding, marking the second time in four months that Congress has wavered in its longtime support for public broadcasting.
In June, a House subcommittee voted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the CPB, starting with a 25 percent cut in the agency’s $400 million budget for next year.
The House reversed the committee’s decision to eliminate all funding and restored the $100 million. Nebraska’s Republican representatives Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry and Tom Osborne voted against restoring the funds.
But the House did not restore an additional $102.4 million that helps underwrite the production of PBS’ Ready to Learn children’s programs such as the Emmy Award-winning “Reading Rainbow,” co-produced by NET Television. Those funds also cover satellite technology, basic equipment purchases and a federal mandate to convert public TV stations to digital.
NET, which oversees the state’s public TV and radio operations, has completed the digital conversion for its statewide network, but relies on federal funds to help with potential satellite and equipment issues.
In contrast, a Senate subcommittee approved CPB’s $400 million and provided an additional $111 million for digital upgrades, equipment purchases and Ready to Learn. The budget must be considered on the Senate floor before it moves to a House-Senate conference to hammer out the differences.
Federal funds make up 9 percent or nearly $3 million of NET’s budget, which is $23,130,000 for the 2005 fiscal year. NET, which operates NET Television and Radio, also receives money from the state, the university, corporate and private donations, grants, contracts and multimedia sales.
Bates said losing any amount of government funds would be difficult.
“We would probably have to eliminate our local programming if we wanted PBS programming,” he said. “That's the kind of choice we would have to make. We couldn't afford PBS programming unless we drastically cut something else."
Losing federal funds would dramatically affect the NET personnel who rely on government funds to produce programming for local and national audiences.
“If we couldn’t use the large amount of dollars that only the government icons can give us, the only (public broadcasting) voices you’ll hear will be New York and California,” said Mel Bucklin, who produced the PBS documentary on Emma Goldman.
Bates said the threat of losing federal money is especially disheartening in the wake of recent budget woes. Over the past four years, NET has seen its state and university funding reduced and revenue from multimedia sales, contracted services, production grants and membership has declined.
NET has suffered $8.4 million in cuts to its operations since fiscal year 2002, resulting in the elimination of 103 positions, including 62 layoffs and a reduction or elimination of programming.
The state did provide $30.7 million to NET’s $44.3 million conversion from analog to digital technology and $15 million for renovations to the Terry M. Carpenter Nebraska Educational Communications Center to accommodate the digital upgrade, however.
“On one hand, it’s been Christmas,” Bates said. “Buying all this equipment and installing it has been an opportunity of a lifetime for many of our engineers.
“On the other hand, it’s been the most difficult time in our history, with personnel that lost positions. It’s been very, very difficult.”
If the threat to federal funding persists, he said, NET will call upon friends, foundations and major supporters to lobby Nebraska’s representatives.
“If you look at it like homeland security, we’re probably on yellow alert or maybe orange,” he said.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
Rod Bates can't — but he said the scenario isn't so far-fetched, especially if federal funding is eliminated from the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications budget.
"The federal funds by and large pretty much pay for all the PBS programming," the NET general manager said. "In a simple way, all PBS programming would go away. If all PBS programming goes away, we would have a serious problem because it's the bulk of our schedule."
Bates is one of several public broadcasting administrators closely monitoring events in Washington, D.C., these days.
Three weeks ago, a group of more than 100 conservative House Republicans proposed $500 billion in spending cuts to offset the cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Among their suggestions was eliminating $400 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the agency that funnels money to PBS, NPR and other public broadcasters.
Bates doubts the CPB will lose funding in this budget session, but he’s not so sure about next year or the next or the next.
“As we face the daunting issues of the debt associated to Katrina, Rita, Iraq, Afghanistan, energy costs and everything else, how are we going to pay for this, especially if there’s an appetite for a tax cut?” he said. “The only place to go for that is discretionary money, and we’re in that mix. As we look out a year or two, yeah, I think we have to watch very, very carefully.”
The proposed cut is the latest instance of public broadcasting finding itself in a political turf war. The year has been rife with battles, ranging from a cartoon bunny visiting a lesbian couple to former CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson hiring a consultant to monitor PBS content to the appointment of Bush campaign contributor Sandra Halpern as Tomlinson’s successor.
“When you see who’s on the (CPB) board, who’s elected to what and so on and so forth, it really has a chilling effect on everything,” Bates said. “I don’t think there’s any question it’s become somewhat politicized.”
In fact, public broadcasting has become such a political hot potato that PBS president Pat Mitchell has spent as much time this past year defending her network as promoting it.
“I describe it as being on the front line,” she told the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch in August. “Every time you can put down your weapon and use peacetime to build for the future, a fire breaks out. I’ve felt I suit up like a fireman and say, ‘Where’s the fire today?’”
This isn’t anything new. Public broadcasting has been a political football since the CPB’s founding in 1967.
Proponents say government-funded programming is necessary because it provides an alternative to commercial fare. They say PBS is unique because it doesn’t have to worry about ratings or answer to advertisers.
Critics argue that PBS no longer make can make that exclusivity claim because of the proliferation of specialized cable networks such as Nickelodeon, Discovery and National Geographic. They also say that corporate donors are, in fact, advertisers.
Critics also say it’s time for Big Bird to stand on his own two floppy feet, that sales from “Sesame Street” merchandise (lunch boxes, pajamas, etc.) can help subsidize the loss of federal funds.
Proponents say public broadcasting systems such as Nebraska’s and those in less populated areas would have trouble surviving or even face possible extinction without government money. Bates said NET’s infrastructure — with nine towers and 14 translators — costs 15 times more than New York City’s one tower, but reaches one-tenth the number of listeners.
“These are old debates,” said Rick Alloway, University of Nebraska-Lincoln broadcasting professor, and they will never go away. “A lot of people feel the same way about the National Endowment for the Arts. They say why should my tax dollars be used to support this stuff?”
In the middle of all of this is the CPB, which was formed to serve as a buffer between politics and programming. But in reality, it’s been the opposite. The president appoints the nine-member board, with a majority of the seats going to members of his party.
The past year has been a highly visible political tug of war on the public broadcasting front.
In February, conservatives took exception to PBS airing a controversial episode of "Postcards From Buster," an animated children's program funded in part by the Department of Education's Ready to Learn initiative.
Buster met a lesbian couple in the episode, which was part of a series in which the bunny also met Mormons, the Hmong, Orthodox Jews, Pentecostal Christians and people from the Gullah culture in South Carolina.
NET Television elected not to run the episode. Bates said the decision was made internally and not in response to a public or political outcry.
"It was a very delicate subject to put in the children's block of time," Bates said. "Had it been in prime time for adults, we wouldn't have had any problem whatsoever.
"There's a tendency on the part of parents to put their kids in front of the television set when it's PBS and walk away knowing they can trust them," he added. "With this kind of thing, the subject matter wasn't the problem, the problem was it should be done with parents aware of it."
More recently, Tomlinson concluded a tumultuous two-year run as CPB chairman, which included an aggressive attempt on his part to balance what he said was overly liberal programming in public television and radio. His primary target was “Now” host Bill Moyers, who left PBS in December.
Tomlinson, who is still on the board, is under investigation by CPB’s inspector general for hiring a consultant to monitor PBS’ public affairs programming, including Moyers’ show. The inspector general also is checking whether or not Tomlinson acted properly in hiring two Republican lobbyists without the agency’s knowledge.
Replacing Tomlinson is Halpern. She and with her husband, Fred, are longtime financial supporters of Republican candidates, including President Bush. Halpern has pledged to remain impartial, as has Patricia Harrison who was named in May as CPB president and chief operating officer. Harrison is a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Tomlinson said he had no regrets for the action he took.
“If I threatened the cozy atmosphere of public broadcasting over the failure to balance the liberal advocacy journalism of Bill Moyers, so be it,” he said in a Sept. 23 New York Times article. “This thing of balance is not rocket science, and that is why I had so little tolerance for public broadcasting’s inability to achieve balance. Let the record show that I gave as good I got.”
The balance issue tends to rankle those in public broadcasting, especially when the public hasn’t objected. A February 2004 RoperASW Poll found that PBS ranked first in public trust, ahead of broadcast networks, newspapers and Congress.
Christine Lesiak, an NET Television executive producer, recalled a program she produced on gambling and noted how hard she worked hard to make it “balanced.”
“It turned out to be the most boring thing,” said Lesiak, who won a prestigious Peabody Award for her documentary on William Jennings Bryan and Scopes trial.
“I learned I don’t have to be balanced, but I have to be fair,” she added. “There is a difference between the two.”
Still, it’s interesting to note that PBS hired an ombudsman on Oct. 5 to serve as an in-house critic. Michael Getler, who spent the past five years as The Washington Post’s ombudsman, is the first to serve in that capacity for PBS, and the first for any national television network.
PBS chief Mitchell told The Washington Post she was thinking about an ombudsman position before Tomlinson began his crusade, but realizes that perception will be different.
“It’s obviously been a concern to me that any move we make now is interpreted as a response to his criticism,” she told the paper.
The announcement follows on the heels of a move by conservative Republicans to ax CPB’s funding, marking the second time in four months that Congress has wavered in its longtime support for public broadcasting.
In June, a House subcommittee voted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the CPB, starting with a 25 percent cut in the agency’s $400 million budget for next year.
The House reversed the committee’s decision to eliminate all funding and restored the $100 million. Nebraska’s Republican representatives Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry and Tom Osborne voted against restoring the funds.
But the House did not restore an additional $102.4 million that helps underwrite the production of PBS’ Ready to Learn children’s programs such as the Emmy Award-winning “Reading Rainbow,” co-produced by NET Television. Those funds also cover satellite technology, basic equipment purchases and a federal mandate to convert public TV stations to digital.
NET, which oversees the state’s public TV and radio operations, has completed the digital conversion for its statewide network, but relies on federal funds to help with potential satellite and equipment issues.
In contrast, a Senate subcommittee approved CPB’s $400 million and provided an additional $111 million for digital upgrades, equipment purchases and Ready to Learn. The budget must be considered on the Senate floor before it moves to a House-Senate conference to hammer out the differences.
Federal funds make up 9 percent or nearly $3 million of NET’s budget, which is $23,130,000 for the 2005 fiscal year. NET, which operates NET Television and Radio, also receives money from the state, the university, corporate and private donations, grants, contracts and multimedia sales.
Bates said losing any amount of government funds would be difficult.
“We would probably have to eliminate our local programming if we wanted PBS programming,” he said. “That's the kind of choice we would have to make. We couldn't afford PBS programming unless we drastically cut something else."
Losing federal funds would dramatically affect the NET personnel who rely on government funds to produce programming for local and national audiences.
“If we couldn’t use the large amount of dollars that only the government icons can give us, the only (public broadcasting) voices you’ll hear will be New York and California,” said Mel Bucklin, who produced the PBS documentary on Emma Goldman.
Bates said the threat of losing federal money is especially disheartening in the wake of recent budget woes. Over the past four years, NET has seen its state and university funding reduced and revenue from multimedia sales, contracted services, production grants and membership has declined.
NET has suffered $8.4 million in cuts to its operations since fiscal year 2002, resulting in the elimination of 103 positions, including 62 layoffs and a reduction or elimination of programming.
The state did provide $30.7 million to NET’s $44.3 million conversion from analog to digital technology and $15 million for renovations to the Terry M. Carpenter Nebraska Educational Communications Center to accommodate the digital upgrade, however.
“On one hand, it’s been Christmas,” Bates said. “Buying all this equipment and installing it has been an opportunity of a lifetime for many of our engineers.
“On the other hand, it’s been the most difficult time in our history, with personnel that lost positions. It’s been very, very difficult.”
If the threat to federal funding persists, he said, NET will call upon friends, foundations and major supporters to lobby Nebraska’s representatives.
“If you look at it like homeland security, we’re probably on yellow alert or maybe orange,” he said.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
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