Ok, its time to talk about the big yellow bird in the room…defunding
of PBS is one of the least necessary money saving measures that has perhaps
ever been brought to the table. Ever. Ever. Ever. The
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity created by Congress in 1967 to
disperse funds to nonprofit broadcast outlets like PBS and NPR, is set to receive
$445 million over the next two years. Per a statutory formula, public
television gets about 75 percent of this appropriation while public radio
receives 25 percent.
Let’s breakdown
the facts:
This amounts to
roughly .012 percent of the $3.8 TRILLION federal budget – or about $1.35 per person per
year. (Some global perspective: elsewhere in the world, Canada spends $22.48
per citizen, Japan $58.86 per citizen, the United Kingdom $80.36 per citizen,
and Denmark, $101 per citizen.) ONE DOLLAR AND THIRTY FIVE CENTS PER YEAR!!
That is less than the inevitable cup of coffee reference, less than a Lunchable, less than a kids movie
rental at Redbox that you forgot to return the next day.
The vast majority
of funding for The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is private. The CPB will
survive without the penance that is paid annually from the government; however
the local stations themselves will not fare as well. Public television and radio stations in poor,
rural areas depend the most on federal support to survive. Small markets and rural America, like Odessa,
Texas, may very well need up to four times that much to operate as large
cities. This means that the areas hardest hit are the ones that need the access
to public television and educational programming the most.
In small towns
(and even large ones) PBS’s children’s programming is the only educational
teachings that many children may receive before entering the public school system.
No library, no learning computer games, no pre-school, no Ipad apps, no
flashcards. Sesame Street is the only exposure to basic leaning skills that many
children may have access to. Free, educational children’s programming with no
commercials. I mention the commercials because if you have ever watched
programming directed at children, it is bombarded by dolls, toys, cars, art
supplies, and terrible processed food all aimed and making your children bully
you into spending your hard-earned money on SHIT. It’s a ruse. Programming immediately
directed at children and indirectly directed at your bank account! Or maybe it’s
the other way around…Look, even Ben Affleck agrees...
No comments:
Post a Comment