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Should federal funding for NPR and public broadcasting be ended? Considering their longstanding biases and considering the federal budget deficits where much more worthy causes are being cut (i.e. for the poor), I know what my answer is.
yes, as should funding for all arts.
Yes, is there really a need for this? and same thing would apply for TV stations also, are there not enough radio & TV stations out there? In this recession I think money could be better put to use elsewhere. There is no reason why these stations can’t still function via private donations.
All unconstitutional federal programs should be done away with. Let those individuals and foundations who really enjoy PBS donate and get tax deductions.
Or if they can’t get donations let them have ads like everyone else.
CharlieSmall, yes there aren’t enough radio broadcast stations. WQXR almost went out of business because its former owner decided it wasn’t making enough money; had it not been for the existence of “public radio” New York would today have no classical music radio station. The terrible thing about WQXR is that it was actually making money, just not enough, and it isn’t as good a station today.
Regarding the alleged unconstitutionality of arts funding: The government has funded the Smithsonian museums for over 160 years. Nobody seems to have questioned it until today. And the total amount of arts funding barely amounts to roundoff error in the total federal budget.
I should add that I am NOT a fan of NPR at all. It has few true on-air employees; most are stringers paid by the piece. Not exactly a Progressive way to run an organization — Wal-Mart, for all its sins, does far better. And the pejorative term “National Palestine Radio” has a basis in fact. Years ago a program director at a non-NPR public station complained to me that their commentaries are almost all from Left to Extreme Left. By comparison, PBS (television) from its early days had conservative commenters like Willam Buckley and Louis Rukeyser. The level of discourse on those two programs was far superior to the diatribes we now see and hear. Hopefully the new management at NPR will provide a new direction.
They laready advertise. That’s the ironic part. If you watch any PBS show, they anounce the “corporate sponsors” and have 30 second commercials for companies like Subaru, Colavita olive oil, Coca Cola, Walmart, etc. They have the country hoodwinked.
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