Senate Hearing on Public Broadcasting on
Tuesday
CauseNet for July 12, 2004
On Tuesday, July 13 the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the
reauthorization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The hearing
provides an opportunity for opponents and supporters of public broadcasting to
make their voices heard.
The Common Cause community has been circulating a petition throughout the
country for the past several months, signed by people like you who want public
broadcasting to retain its editorial independence. This petition will be entered
into the official record at Tuesday’s hearing as evidence of your strong
support for independent public broadcasting and for the continued financial
support of the CPB. If you haven’t already signed the petition, please
sign it today so your voice can be added to that of the
over 52,000 people who have signed it so far!
The
next step in the process is the actual reauthorization of the
bill. We are still very concerned that foes of public broadcasting will attach
amendments to the reauthorizing legislation that could impact the editorial
control of public broadcasting, as well as how it is funded. We must not let
this happen.
The CPB, which administers federal funding to public broadcast stations, was set
up for the express purpose of insulating public broadcasting from government
intrusion into program content. We must fight to uphold the ideals of those
visionaries - including Common Cause founder, John
Gardner - who first promoted the idea of a public broadcasting
system that was free to present hard-hitting investigative journalism without
the threat of political or corporate pressure.
Common Cause members are leading the fight to protect public broadcasting by
circulating the petition to friends, bringing the petition to community events,
and speaking out on the issue at public forums throughout the country. Together
we will continue to monitor this issue through the reauthorization process. Stay
tuned in the days and weeks ahead for more updates on this issue. Our work is
not done!
A live web cast of the Tuesday morning hearing is available at
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1265