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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – As sure as I’m standing here, my public broadcasting friends will find a liberal judge who will issue a restraining order blocking their funding cuts. (Judicial pro-tip: the judge who issues such a ruling should not be seen coming or going from the courthouse carrying an NPR tote bag. It would be funny if the judge was asked if they listen to All Things Considered on their ride home.)
What have we gotten for a government-funded public broadcasting news service? National Public Radio CEO Katherine Roberts Maher was called up in front of a congressional hearing to apologize for her network refusing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story. A letter signed by 50 so-called national security experts was enough to quench NPR’s journalistic curiosity. She also walked back or pretended not to remember her own social media posts about race relations, the environment, and Black Lives Matter. And… she’s entitled to her own opinions. It’s only a problem when they are parrotted by her news organization’s coverage.
As I’ve pointed out in these commentaries, Sesame Street is not going away without your tax dollars. It is the most heavily-marketed children’s show ever. It can pay for itself many times over with the licensing dollars from Big Bird and Elmo.
And the taxpayer subsidizing of public broadcasting is more than you realize. Many public radio TV and radio stations are owned or controlled by government entities, like public universities. In many cases their studios and their transmitters and towers are on public land that they don’t pay for. Oftentimes their general managers or station managers are also professors; the school covers part or all of their salaries. Imagine how much more profitable this commercial station would be if we didn’t have to pay for our offices and our transmitter site, and if some outside institution paid part of our executives’ salaries. We’d be flush, indeed.
Public broadcasting argues that only 15% of their funding comes from taxpayer sources. Surely that small a slice of their budgets can be made up through fundraising and corporate giving. They’re 15% away from standing on their own.
Chris Conley
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