As one who has worked as a volunteer for over 10 years at NPR-afiliated stations in Maryland and Florida, I have been able to see first hand how important the Federal $$$ are to capital improvements. But the Federal $$$s make up only about 15% of the operating budgets of the stations I have been associated with. It will not be the end of the world if the legislation passes.
It might even be beneficial to have public broadcasting stop sucking on the federal teet. The government can use their puppet-master power to put pressure on NPR to conform to the party line. When the network deviates off the track, the threat of federal fund withdrawal causes the network to do a mid-course correction. Pacifica does a good, albeit biased, job of public broadcasting with no federal support. Their financial supporters contribute to their operations because they believe the message is worthy of their support.
Many folks refuse to contribute to their NPR-affiliated station because they claim that their tax dollars already pay for public radio and they do not feel obligated to pay twice. It is a reasonable argument that will be blunted if this legislation passes. So it might even be beneficial to the long-term health of public broadcasting to make the system more efficient and responsive to the public by cutting out government funding.
Joe Buch
--- On Sun, 2/13/11, Richard Cuff <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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