We are 1 million strong: Call Congress to save NPR and PBS

 

Dear friend of MoveOn,

In an unexpected move yesterday afternoon, the House of Representatives approved a measure to restore $100 million of funding for NPR, PBS and local public stations.1 Republican leaders were proposing to slash $200 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but you helped stop them.

Everyone said it was impossible to reverse any of the House cuts with Republicans in control. Yesterday's Washington Post described the divide between Democrats and Republicans like this:

"[O]n Capitol Hill, it's hard to find a Republican with anything nice to say about National Public Radio or the Public Broadcasting Service. Instead, they denounce them as liberal and elitist, when they bother to talk about them at all."2

Public broadcasting shouldn't divide Republicans and Democrats. More Americans trust NPR and PBS for balanced news and children's programming than any commercial network.3 Yet many Republicans have been intent on either gagging or starving public broadcasting.

So why did 87 Republicans break with the majority of their party and vote to restore the funding? In large part, because over 1 million of you signed the petition calling on Congress to reverse course. And over 40,000 of you made phone calls to your elected representatives. There was a surge of public outrage that couldn't be ignored. This victory was possible because we were joined by Free Press, Common Cause and strong allies in the House—Representatives Markey, Obey, Lowey, Dingell, Hinchey, Watson, Schakowsky, Blumenauer, Eshoo, Slaughter, and Leach, a brave Republican.

Despite this incredible progress, the House Republicans did manage to cut over $100 million, including funding for children's programming like "Sesame Street." We'll take our fight to the Senate when it considers the budget later this summer. But yesterday's vote makes it much more likely we can restore every last cent for NPR and PBS by acting together.

Yesterday also brought darker news in the fight for public broadcasting. The Republican-dominated board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) hired a former Republican National Committee chair as the next president, injecting partisanship into the very organization designed to shield public broadcasting from political meddling.4 This is only the latest effort by White House ally and CPB board chair Kenneth Tomlinson to remake public broadcasting as a partisan mouthpiece. To save NPR and PBS, we'll need to take on Tomlinson, but today we showed that the public can and will defend public broadcasting from partisan attack.

For now, we have a lot to be thankful for. Our kids can keep learning from PBS' children's programming. We can keep enjoying public broadcasting's in-depth, trustworthy news and cultural offerings. Most of all, we can be thankful for the ability of ordinary people to band together and do extraordinary things.

Thank you, for all you do,

–Noah, Joan, Marika, Wes and the MoveOn.org Team
  Friday, June 24th, 2005

Together, we achieved the record-setting goal of delivering 1 million signatures to Congress yesterday.  Make a quick phone call today to save NPR and PBS.

Dear friend of MoveOn,

As far as we know, this is the most Americans to ever sign a petition in a single week, and it's one of the larger petitions in recent U.S. history—over 1 million people! On Tuesday in front of the Capitol dome, we stacked box upon box of your signatures and comments—more than 60,000 pages—as members of Congress and children's advocates spoke in defense of NPR and PBS. PBS children's characters Clifford the Big Red Dog, Maya and Miguel, Leona the Lion, and lots of kids reminded Congress what's at stake.

The event was swarming with press, and the story is getting lots of great news coverage. You've helped to raise the profile of this issue and increase public pressure on Congress.

Our representatives have seen how many of us there are, but now they need to hear from us directly.

This is an uphill fight, so every call is critical. Tell the staffer who answers why you feel so strongly about saving NPR and PBS, and ask Rep. Blunt to restore all funding to public broadcasting.

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

 

Why is public broadcasting so important? Many of you told Congress when signing the petition. Here are a few of your comments:

"There are so few truly wholesome and wonderful programs for children available on television. To invest in the future, please save PBS children's programming."
—Miranda, Chicago, IL

"NPR and PBS are crucial to me. I am a librarian, and it is often the only place that I can get news coverage on certain topics explained fully. Where broadcast news might spend 5 minutes on a topic, NPR will spend an hour."
—Paula, Benton Harbor, MI

"Public Broadcasting is one of the few bright spots in our nation's increasingly shallow and corporate influenced media."
—Steven, Alameda, CA

Our fight for public broadcasting—and high-quality, honest media—is just beginning. Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

–Noah, Joan, Rosalyn, Wes and the MoveOn.org Team
  Thursday, June 23rd, 2005

P.S. The Associated Press wire story on Tuesday's rally includes the petition you signed. You can read the story at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=756&t=3