Take Back PBS - the cheap way!

Oh, Buster! What a bad, BAD little bunny you have been, hanging around with lesbian maple farmers and all the rest. My my my! It's enough to make PBS executives withdraw your episode from broadcast, or as Center For American Progress put it...

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings condemned the once-celebrated PBS show, "Postcards with Buster," because a not-yet-aired episode involved an 11-year-old girl with two mommies. That was merely the latest in the Bush administration's attempts to control content and enforce conservative themes at the station. Fearful the right wing will continue to impinge on the channel's independence, children's television advocates are calling for a new funding model based on a "national trust fund or endowment [that] would allow PBS to be free of the whims of the White House."

Mitchell maintains the "Postcards" controversy has nothing to do with her decision to leave, but the episode was indicative of the political wrangling that has complicated her job at PBS. Mitchell originally signaled she was "comfortable" with the episode in question, but according to PBS spokesman Lea Sloan, she changed her mind " after conversations with a number of PBS stations and 'national leadership.'" Asked who among the "national leadership" had contacted Mitchell, "Sloan named John Lawson, who lobbies for public TV stations on the Hill." Lawson, besides being CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations, is Spellings's brother-in-law. His role in the controversy suggests a direct conflict of interest: Lawson is supposed to advocate for public television stations, but has a family connection with media censors in the Bush administration.

The problem is not limited to cartoons or children’s programming. PBS is one of few remaining sources of trustworthy news and thoughtful commentary, and this too is being eroded from the top. You might notice that “Now” was cut down to 1/2 an hour after Bill Moyers retired. Also neocon Tucker Carlson and Paul Gigot of the WSJ Editorial Page now have magazine-format shows in key spots. One way to fight this trend, as we've discussed on this blog before, is to organize and pool our PBS subscription dollars and conduct a conditional giving campaign at our local PBS stations. Pool a few thousand dollars and give it as a leadership subscription to the station on the condition that they schedule neocon commentary to off-peak hours, and program more progressive viewpoints more often. It's the most effective way to take back PBS, but it requires mass amouts of organization and cash.

Another way to fight, though, is to adapt another Rightie technique… file “profanity and indecency” complaints with the FCC on Carlson and Gigot. Every time one of them lies, insults a progressive idea or figure, or patronizes a guest, send the FCC an e-mail about it. The even have a convenient form to use…

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm

It’s fun, it’s easy, and… it’s the law!