A conservative coup is underway at PBS.

[Robbien]

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?pid=2350

The new head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (the gatekeeper between lawmakers and public broadcasters), Ken Ferree, is a staunch Republican proponent of media deregulation and a former top adviser to FCC Chairman Michael Powell. Three top CPB officials, all with Democratic affiliations, departed or were dismissed in recent months. For the first time in its 38-year history, the CPB ordered a comprehensive review of public TV and radio programming for "evidence of bias." All new PBS funding agreements are conditioned upon the network following "objectivity and balance" requirements for each of its programs.

Last January, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced the cartoon rabbit Buster, of "Postcards from Buster" fame, for visiting a lesbian family in Vermont. The decision to slash in half the popular investigative show NOW after Bill Moyers' departure, and the addition of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Tucker Carlson (who has since left for MSNBC) to the programming line-up proves just how far right PBS has moved in an attempt to appear fair and balanced. "This is the first time in my thirty-two years in public broadcasting that CPB has ordered up programs for ideological instead of journalistic reasons," Moyers told The New Yorker last year.

A majority of the CPB's eight-member board--chaired by Ken Tomlinson, a good friend of Karl Rove--are now Republican appointees. Two of the newest, Gay Hart Gaines and Cheryl Halpern, have donated more $800,000 to the Republican Party since 1995. Gaines once ran a political action committee for Newt Gingrich, who as speaker of the House pushed to "zero out" all of PBS's federal funding. In 2003, PBS President Pat Mitchell offered Gingrich a town-hall style show. It would've happened if Gingrich wasn't already under contract with Fox News.

Ironically, the CPB was created to shield PBS from political pressure, just as PBS was intended to address the "needs of unserved and underserved audiences." One can hardly argue that the WSJ edit page or Tucker Carlson fit into that category. "To find the same combination of conviction, partisanship and ideological extremism on the far left," wrote my colleague Eric Alterman, "A network would need to convene a 'roundtable' featuring Noam Chomsky, Alexander Cockburn, Vanessa Redgrave and Fidel Castro."

[Jacobin]

1. There goes what's left of PBS

Damn shame.

Propaganda coup almost complete.

[quiet.american]

5. Literally. n/t

[trotsky]

2. Well, they couldn't destroy it back after the '94 "revolution"...

too much public outcry. So, like the abortion terrorists and virtually every other right-wing enterprise that decent people reject, they went behind the scenes to accomplish the same thing. Just takes a little longer, that's all.

[SoCalDem]

28. Republicans are "patient"...(The smart ones, anyway)

They all know we will focus on the loonies carrying signs, and harrassing people.


The "smart" ones just gradually buy or threaten their way onto boards, and into companaies..ALL OF THEM..

This is how they got control of newspapers , radio & TV.

They get into a position where THEY control who gives the information, and then they sit back on auto-pilot and laugh at us all..

This is their only subtle play in the whole "playbook".. They do it so people don't even notice at first.. NOW is still on, BUT it's cut back to half-hour....Tucker Carlson gets half-hour because???? He's just freaking brilliant?? He's "earned" it?? Nope.. He's the "balance"?? Truth-telling simply MUST be countered with LIE-telling..

Dare to complain?? You'll be met with.. "Surely there's room for ALL opinions on PBS"...

There are fewer and fewer real documentaries even offered on PBS..

Jim Lehrer has apparently been drinking the koolaid.. On his current book-tour, he is asked at EVERY venue, about the rightward turn of PBS... and he "toes the line" perfectly.. "No way.. I haven't noticed it at all"... Sure , Jim :(

[Snotcicles]

3. They won't get anymore of my money. n/t

[acmejack]

39. Same here

I, too, have noticed the decline in content. A damn shame, but they don't like the public competing with their media cash cows.

[Helga Scow Stern]

4. That explains why the last Frontline, on Rove, was so false. n/t

There's hardly ever anything to watch on PBS anymore.

[Kerrytravelers]

6. One more piece of the puzzel to create a one-party system is put in place.

Democracy is dead. It is dead and buried.

[maxsolomon]

7. wrong. TV is dead.

bury yours today.

[Robbien]

10. When Microsoft hires Robert Reed because the GOP orders it to do so

and the media reports the GOP 'nuclear option' is really a DNC term
and the Christian coalition buys up many local radio stations, it stands to reason they will not allow PBS to operate without GOP's heavy hand.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

38. I just GOTTA correct you! You mean Ralph Reed.

I can't stand seeing that slimy worm mixed up with the nice, cute guy that played Mike Brady! :)

[blm]

8. This completes the FASCISTS' 40 year plan to control ALL broadcast media.

Disgusting. And why is there noone willing to come forward and expose it? Thomas Frank writes about the GOP's brilliance at framing, yet he doesn't mention one gawddam word about the REAL reason they get heard and the Dems are filtered out....because the GOP CONTROLS MOST BROADCAST MEDIA, TOMMY!

I supported Howard Dean for DNC chair because I expect him to work to expose the GOP control of the media.

[bobthedrummer]

9. I've seen WalMart sponsorship at PBS

That's it-game over.
:puke::argh:

[wtbymark]

11. i was just in an all staff meeting about this

most of the news was not good, but some news was encouraging. For the 4th year in a row the feds want to cut funding by at least half, we now have to be 'accoutable' in our Ready to Learn program (like NCLB) which for a broadcast station is impossible (we aren't a school, we don't test) BUT, such encouraging news like, more resources and efforts for science and nature programming, we get to keep Sesame Street (thank you WGBH) - and- a couple of very wealthy people are in the process of setting up a PBS trust fund, in which, when PBS sells the government back all the analogue spectrum (worth billions) that money will be put into a trust fund and the revenue would make all current PBS stations solvent (meaning no government funding needed, meaning NO CPB, meaning no gov't influence, meaning PBS can finally become an independant entity, meaning our battle will finally be won)

so bear with us

-a nobody at Vermont Public Television

[Kerrytravelers]

16. Thanks for the heads up. I will try to be hopeful... and patient.

[Bridget Burke]

17. "Selling back the analog spectrum"?

So PBS will definitely be cable-only in the future, I guess.

What a deal.

[Touchdown]

24. All airwaves become Digital in the next 1-4 years.

DTV was set to be the only broadcast service by 2006, but that may be extended because sales of digital TVs aren't as fast as was expected in 1998 when it was introduced. All 80 year old NTSC analog signals would be turned off eventually though. ATSC is the new TV standard. Some people confuse this with HDTV. HD is only an included option with ATSC. The digital signals can be seen on old analog TV sets with the purchase of a $50 converter box (when they become available), and a standard rabbit ears antenna.

Hope that explains it.:hi:

[Lorien]

31. Thanks for the ray of hope

PBS was the only station I really watched for the past five years. When they cut NOW I cut my cable that allowed me to watch PBS. If they return to their roots, I'll have a reason to watch again.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. We are the only ones left to deal with.

Those of us that use the internet for our information.
As soon as they figure out a way to shut down information on the internet the coup will be complete.
Won't be long.

[GalleryGod]

13. Say-in' Bye-Bye- Good ole' P-B-S

:hi: another one bites the dust:patriot:

What an efficient Sweeping Machine this Right Wing Gang is!

The horror......the hor-ror:rant:

[erinlough]

14. email the ombudsman, I already did

[Robbien]

15. Good idea and here is the link for anyone interested in voicing an opinion

http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/

[Norquist Nemesis]

22. And what do we know about the newly appointed ombudsman?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&q=Ken+Bode+ombudsman&btnG=Search


http://news.corporate.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20050405/05apr2005124603.html
<snip>
Bode currently is a visiting professor of journalism at DePauw University. He has covered politics for The New Republic, served as a national political correspondent for NBC News, and served as a senior correspondent for CNN. For five years, Bode was the moderator of public television's Washington Week in Review. Schulz recently retired after nearly forty years as a Reader's Digest writer and editor. As the Digest's Washington bureau chief, he oversaw the development of nearly 2,000 original articles for the magazine.
<snip>

And his vitae from...The Hudson Institute:
http://www.hudson.org/learn/index.cfm?fuseaction=staff_bio&eid=Bode

[necso]

18. Too bad, but to be expected.

Our overlords wish to control all public information flow -- to make sure that there isn't any useful information in it -- or anything contrary to the current propaganda lines. (etc, etc)

On another note, there was a great line on a PBS show last night.

Something to the effect of: "Getting us to look to the sky while they stole our land."

Same old, same old. Sometimes they call it religion and point to the sky -- sometimes they call it something else and point somewhere else. But for the love (or hate or fear) of whatever, just don't pay attention to what your overlords are doing in the here and now. -- You might decide that it is in your interest to try to stop them.

[bobthedrummer]

19. Kick.

:dem::kick:

[DeepModem Mom]

20. kick

[JHB]

21. Like the "Pacifica Coup" of 2000-2001, only larger

Back in 2000 and 2001 there was a corporatist "hostile takeover" of the Pacifica Radio Network by its board which had carefully laid the grondwork over several years. A good overview of the coup (and sucessful fight to reverse it) can be found here: http://www.dailynewsonline.com/founder_pitz_frank/2004_03_21_archive_article.php#107991119176570583

[tom_paine]

23. Totalitarianism seeks to dominate ALL parts of a society

What part of "all" don't you understand?

ALL things MUST serve THE PARTY and THE LEADER.

And these monsters will NOT stop until America, politically anyway (let's hope they don't have plans for the rest of it), resembles Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.

Future generations will study Imperial Amerika and scratch their heads and say what we used to say about Nazi Germany when America was still free:

"How could they have been stopped. Everything Hitler and Bush did was legal."

And they will wonder how to make certain it never happens again.

[Swamp Rat]

43. If humanity survives

[AngryAmish]

25. Conservatives must not be hired at PBS

I expect intelligent television from PBS, and conservatives are too stupid to be on that channel. The current PBS must examine the views and voting records of current and portential employees to make sure they do not hire rethugs or kkkristians.

[AmandaRuth]

26. Interesting how the Republicans are asking for the

fairness doctrine when they feel they can use it to their advantage.

[Roland99]

27. Goodbye, PBS...Hello RBS

[MrScorpio]

29. The new order

Welcome loyalty oaths and political purges.

All we need now are gulags.

Maybe Shrubya can convince his pal, Pooty-Poot to have us reclaim Siberia.

[slay]

30. Liberals are free thinkers who appreciate intelligence. Republicans are

close minded idiots who love money in excess. Sorry, but it really is that simple. Bye-bye public TV - thanks for betraying us just like all the rest of the mainstream media has. People have no idea what real liberal bias is. Mainstream media uses the far right to represent conservatives while conservatives represent liberals! Liberals have no real voice at all.

[Dorian Gray]

32. I don't understand WHY

they have to be political at all? Just keep showing Sesame Street, the documentaries on interesting people, their religion in the news, the operas and other arts they show. The very few political shows that they have, sure, get a voice for both sides on, but I don't understand WHY PBS needs to court political interest from the conservatives.

It's about children and culture. Allow that to continue.

[JPZenger]

33. If Water Down PBS, No One Will Watch and Then...

If the Right-Wingers water down PBS programming enough, then no one will watch. That will then give them an excuse to cut off all Federal funding. Their goal is to permanently undercut any mechanism that can be used to question the Right-Wingers spin of what is happening in the world.

[tyedyeto]

34. I saw it coming when ......

this was first announced last year:

"The decision to slash in half the popular investigative show NOW after Bill Moyers' departure, and the addition of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Tucker Carlson (who has since left for MSNBC) to the programming line-up proves just how far right PBS has moved in an attempt to appear fair and balanced."

[TWiley]

35. I hate the Fucking Republicans. Especially the church-goers.

Because the Church-goers always act like they are so much better than everyone else.

They will not stop until they destroy everything liberal. Now we know how other cultures felt while being attacked by the fucking christians.

[Ryder911]

36. PBS has nobody to blame but PBS!

I'm sorry, but in my opinion PBS has nobody to blame for their problems except themselves! Instead of putting up a fight, they rolled over and let the Repugs take over in a bloodless coup.

What they should have done was cried foul and accused the Repugs of censorship and infringing upon their rights to free speech. If push came to shove, they then should have gone off public financing and appealed to their listeners (the vast majority of whom are liberal) for additional contributions. As a former member, I know I would have gladly increased my annual contributions by at least five fold. They also could have accepted more sponsorship and maybe even some advertising. Anything would have been better than what they have now.

Thank God for Air America.

[wtbymark]

40. This is absolutely wrong

PBS has no say as to who is on the board of directors at CPB. The board is appointed by the president, so it should be no surprise that right wing radicals have infiltrated the board. See my post above as to their plans and as to our outlook on the situation. It looks like we have to endure a few years wrangling and threats, but afterward, hopefully, we will be independent of the government.

[nedbal]

42. Like the "Pacifica Coup" of 2000-2001"PBS has nobody to blame but PBS!"

[november3rd]

37. Good.

They're just setting themselves up for that much more of a collapse and humiliation when the blowback comes.

[AuntiBush]

41. Have heard about this a few weeks back...

How much worse can it get, I ask...