Take Action to Save PBS!

An Action Alert from People For the American Way (PFAW) The right wing campaign to destroy the impartiality of PBS is gaining steam and this week the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the appropriations bill that will slash the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget for next year by $100 million, eliminate another $23 million used to pay for shows such as Sesame Street, and cut a combined $79 million for needed technology upgrades for local stations. At the same time, Chairman of the CPB's Board of Directors, Kenneth Tomlinson, continues to seek ways to make PBS better reflect the Republican mandate by spending $15,000 on two Republican lobbyists but not disclosing it to the corporation's board, one of whom recently resigned from his position as a top aide to Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, after writing a memorandum describing how to exploit the Terri Schiavo case for political gain. Tomlinson also secretly paid a consultant $10,000 to monitor broadcasts of "Now with Bill Moyers" for "anti-Bush," "anti-business" and "anti-Tom DeLay" remarks. And today, Tomlinson and the CPB board are holding a closed meeting as they attempt to quickly appoint a former co-chairman of the Republican National Committee to be the CPB's president and chief executive, despite the fact that she has no experience with public broadcasting! And the Right Wing loves it! The right wing media watchdog group Accuracy in Media called the House's efforts to de-fund PBS "a step in the right direction" and urged Congress to go further and "completely de-fund public TV and radio. All $400 million a year should be terminated." Tim Graham, head of the Media Research Center, another Right Wing media watchdog group, praised Tomlinson's actions and also called on "Congress to go ahead and zero out its federal funding and let the people who can't live without it pay the bills for a change." The Right Wing must not be allowed to force its ideology upon public broadcasting and we must stand up to their attempts to silence PBS! Contact your representatives today and urge them to protect the future and independence of public broadcasting! Click HERE to take action .