Help PBS stay independent

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Who: Moveon.org

When: you can

What: Help PBS stay independent

Keep partisan spin off your PBS station

The chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, is trying to push partisan programming on your local PBS station. Now it's time to push back.

Tomlinson spent our tax dollars on a major new show with the notoriously right-wing editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Under the guise of "balance," Tomlinson is giving yet another soapbox to powerful allies of the White House and short-changing investigative journalism on PBS.

Please call your local PBS station today. You can say something like:

"I'm a big supporter of PBS and this station. Please keep Kenneth Tomlinson's partisan spin off the air. I don't want to see those pro-Bush pundits from the Wall Street Journal--I want real journalism."

 WTTW-TV
 773-509-1111
 networkchicago@networkchicago.com

 WYCC-TV20
 773-838-7880
 web@wycc.org

It's important to track our impact. Please let us know you're calling at:

http://civic.moveon.org/tomlinson/?id=5869-4208210-2IOH0gJKMYaHEEffDrEMWQ&t=7160&t=7838

If any of this contact information is incorrect, please email a correction to mediacorrections@moveon.org.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page regularly distorts the truth to dogmatically defend the Bush administration. Here are a few examples:

   * Parroted Republican talking points to defend Karl Rove's role in the CIA leak(1)
   * Claimed Bush's Social Security privatization plan would not cut benefits(2)
   * Exaggerated the number of Iraqi troops trained(3)
   * Disputed science linking global warming to greenhouse gases(4)
   * Insisted the world is not running out of oil(5)
   * Falsely claimed Abu Ghraib report absolved senior officials of responsibility for abuse(6)
   * Credited Bush as the first to regulate mercury when he rolled back more stringent protections already on the books(7)

The Wall Street Journal editorial board is dishonest, and sadly it's also among the most influential political voices in the country. It hardly fulfills the public broadcasting mission of providing "a voice for groups in the community that may otherwise be unheard."8 You can find out whether "The Journal Editorial Report" airs on your PBS station at:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/journaleditorialreport/schedule.html

You helped hold back Republicans' attempts to slash funding for public broadcasting,9 but the right-wing is still trying to control what we see and hear on NPR and PBS. Public broadcasting must reflect the interests of the American public, not Kenneth Tomlinson or any partisan hack.

Thank you for all you do.

-Noah, Wes, Micayla, Carrie and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team

 Friday, July 29th, 2005

P.S. Tomlinson's term as chairman comes to an end this fall, but the leading replacements are major Republican donors and right-wing activists. We'll be watching this closely, and you can learn more from this Washington Post story:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=784

Sources:

1. Rove leak http://mediamatters.org/items/200507140001

2. Social Security http://mediamatters.org/items/200502070004

3. Iraqi troops http://mediamatters.org/items/200506280004

4. Global warming http://mediamatters.org/items/200506210006

5. Oil http://mediamatters.org/items/200506290004

6. Abu Ghraib http://mediamatters.org/items/200504280004

7. Mercury http://mediamatters.org/items/200503220008

8. "The Real Challenge for Public Television," Common Dreams, May 4, 2005 http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0504-33.htm

9. "Public Broadcasting Gets a Budgetary Lift," New York Times, July 12, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/12/arts/music/12broa.html

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This page was last modified 00:54, 10 August 2005 by dKosopedia user DRolfe. Based on work by dKosopedia user(s) Lawnorder. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.