House restores public TV funding, but fight continues By Charlie McCollum
Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/11974192.htm For now, ``Clifford the Big Red Dog,'' ``Masterpiece Theatre,'' ``Frontline,'' ``Fresh Air'' and ``All Things Considered'' are safe. After a storm of protest from supporters of public television and radio, the House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to restore $100 million in programming money to next year's Corporation for Public Broadcasting budget. The CPB is the private agency that disburses funds to the Public Broadcasting System, National Public Radio and their member stations. At the same, however, $105 million in funding, including $23 million for children's programming and educational outreach, was eliminated. The fight over that money will now move to the Senate, which has traditionally been a strong backer of PBS and NPR. ``This is certainly a significant victory, but it's just phase one of a multi-phase effort to restore funds that were cut,'' said Jeff Clarke, president and chief executive of KQED. KQED, the dominant PBS and NPR outlet in the Bay Area, would have lost $1 million in federal money next year under the reduced CPB budget. KQED has an overall budget of $43 million, so it would not have felt the hit quite as much as the smaller public broadcasting stations in the market, such as San Jose's KTEH and San Mateo's KCSM. Even though KTEH and KCSM faced smaller cuts, they depend even more heavily on public funding and the impact on their programming would have been more substantial. But while, as Clarke said, public broadcasters ``dodged a bullet'' with Thursday's vote, the funding battle comes at a time of high anxiety within the world of public broadcasting. In recent years, PBS -- and to a lesser extent, NPR -- had been struggling with myriad issues: loss of corporate and foundation funding, an aging viewership base, the failure of high-profile programming initiatives and its place in a 500-channel TV world where it was no longer the clear alternative to the commercial broadcast networks. Then, earlier this year, public broadcasting found itself in the most partisan battle over the future of the system since then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried to eliminate all federal funding a decade ago. Political struggles In recent months, CPB has become embroiled in a struggle with PBS and NPR member stations over the alleged extent of liberal bias within public TV and radio. The chair of the CPB board, Kenneth Tomlinson, has been accused of trying to impose partisan viewpoints on PBS and NPR programming. He also hired a consultant to ``analyze'' the views of Bill Moyers, the former host of PBS's ``NOW.'' At almost the same time the House was voting on the CPB funding Thursday, the corporation's board threw more fuel on that fire by announcing the appointment of former Republican Party co-chair Patricia S. Harrison as its new president and chief executive. Harrison had been opposed by PBS and NPR stations, liberal advocacy groups such as Common Cause and Democratic members of Congress. After the vote on Harrison, PBS said in a statement that it had concerns about her appointment but expressed hope that she would ``execute her responsibilities with non-partisan integrity.'' Tomlinson, the CPB board's chair, has said repeatedly that he is seeking only to bring balance to PBS and NPR public-affairs programming. ``This is not a controversy that I brought to public broadcasting. There is an element within public broadcasting that brought this controversy on itself,'' he said recently in an interview with the Washington Post. ``All I'm trying to do is advocate that both sides be fairly represented.'' The partisan nature of the debate was exacerbated by the fight over funding, which quickly devolved into the ``red state, blue state'' rancor of the 2004 presidential election. Liberal activists -- MoveOn.org and People for the American Way -- attacked the cuts as a conservative effort to destroy the independence of PBS and NPR. Conservative groups backed the elimination of federal funds and criticized the campaign by PBS and NPR stations to retain the money. (The aggressive campaign and involvement of advocacy groups such as MoveOn even made some public broadcasters uneasy, with KCSM General Manager Marilyn Lawrence saying Thursday that ``of all times, this is the time we should not be political.'') `No agenda of any kind' PBS president and chief executive Pat Mitchell tried to maintain the high ground, saying just before Thursday's vote that ``PBS does not belong to any single constituency, no one political party, no activist group, no foundation, no funder, no agenda of any kind. Our editorial standards ensure this and public-opinion polls verify it.'' KQED's Clarke tried to reinforce that point Thursday after the House vote, saying the ``good news here is that 87 Republicans joined with 196 Democrats and one independent to overwhelmingly approve the restoration of funds. ``That really says something about the grass-roots effort and Americans letting the members of Congress know how they felt.'' John F. Wilson, PBS senior vice president for programming, said he was ``heartened by the bipartisan nature'' of Thursday's vote but suggested that viewers and listeners do not see funding for PBS and NPR as a ``red state, blue state'' issue. ``Everything is seen through red and blue glasses, at least inside the Washington Beltway these days,'' he said. ``But if you get out and actually talk to folks, they just want to keep the good stuff coming: the shows for their kids or their favorite show like `Antiques Roadshow' or `Frontline.' ``To the degree that this sort of partisan battle seeps down into the public consciousness, that would be too bad, because it hasn't occurred to the average American viewer that public television is a political football.'' Contact Charlie McCollum at cmccollum@ mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5245. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. 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