[Mb-civic] Suggested Action, To Help PBS...

[Jim Burns]

I happen to have enjoyd Paul igot, in the past, but fair is fair...

 
Date:    Mon, May 2, 2005, 11:10am (EDT-1) From:    "Josh
Silver, Exec. Director" <list at freepress.net> Reply to:   
list at freepress.net 
Subject:    PBS is under attack

PBS is in jeopardy. Today's New York Times describes secret efforts by
Republican operatives to make our Public Broadcasting System more "fair
and balanced." 

Kenneth Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB) -- the government-funded organization that was
designed to shield PBS from political pressure -- is aggressively
pressing PBS to correct what he considers "liberal bias." 

He secretly hired a White House staffer to help draft "guiding
principles" for the future of CPB. He brought in a consultant to monitor
the "anti-Bush" and "anti-Tom Delay" content on Bill Moyers' NOW
program, and then set up and funded right-wing commentator Paul Gigot's
new PBS program. Now Tomlinson is working behind the scenes to stack
CPB's board and executive offices with Republican Party cronies. 
CLICK HERE TO SAVE PBS

http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs 



Together we can stop this partisan attack. Join our call to Congress,
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS station managers to: 

1. Remove Kenneth Tomlinson from the CPB board. 

2. Return PBS to the people by holding local town meetings in your
community. We the public -- not partisan political operatives -- should
decide what we want from PBS. 
Tomlinson told the Times that he's trying to restore "objectivity and
balance" to public broadcasting. This top-down partisan meddling goes
against the very nature of PBS and the local stations we trust. Let the
people speak and decide the future of PBS, not secret dealings by White
House operatives. 

Send your message now -- and forward this letter to all of your friends
and colleagues, asking them to do the same. 

Onward, 

Josh Silver
www.freepress.net