[Peace-discuss] Hoping for more silver linings....

[jencart]

Friends,

Okay, deadline approaches.....I sent my checks to WILL today.  One went to 580 AM for Media Matters, one went to Ch 12 w/ a grumpy note about corporate invasion of children's programming.

Jenifer C.
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Dear Free Press Supporters,

Yes, it's good news that the House voted to keep Fed funding @ present (pitifully low) levels.  I know it's also necessary for us to continue $upporting public b'casting, but it's increasingly hard to do so, and not just because of increasingly poor coverage of actual news.....  These "commercial free" programs often start w/ several minutes of promotional messages for the various corporate sponsors, which has been going on for a while, and which we've come accept as inevitable.  But I've just recently become aware of the newest sneakiest most disgusting form of corporate influence and control -- have you noticed? It's the  product placements on PBS kid shows -- name brand cookies and candy prominently displayed while the credits roll..... What's the next thing that we have to accept in order to survive?  And, ultimately, what will be left worth supporting?  I keep taking out my checkbook, then putting it away again w/o contributing... 

Jenifer Cartwright
Champaign, IL
-------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Media Reformer:

Yesterday, the House voted overwhelmingly -- by a margin of 284 to 140 -- t o restore $100 million to the budget for public broadcasting.

Representatives reversed course because their phones were ringing off the h ook and their mailboxes were jammed with letters and e-mails from millions  of Americans. Your message came through loud and clear: Stop playing politi cs with public broadcasting.

We scored a stunning victory -- but public broadcasting isn’t safe yet. T he legislation now moves to the Senate, where Free Press and our allies are
 working to win back more than $100 million (for children’s programming a nd satellite and digital upgrades) stripped away by partisan operatives in  the House Appropriations Committee. We must keep up the pressure on Capitol
 Hill.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Mobilize others. for the next fight to restore funding in the Senate. Re cruit five of your friends to sign up as Free Press activists at http://www .freepress.net/action/signup.php .

2. Go local. We’re planning a series of house parties and town meetings t his summer and fall to put the public back in public broadcasting. But we n eed your help. Join the Free Press Action Squad at http://www.freepress.net /action/squad/signup.php -- and we’ll be in touch with more information o n how to get directly involved in your community.

3. Support the Free Press Action Fund. Your donation at http://www.freepres s.net/support/ will support the campaign to save public broadcasting today  and build a noncommercial media system that serves Americans for generation s to come.

We should savor this victory today but steel ourselves for the fight ahead.

Onward,

Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net 

P.S. -- Every silver lining has a cloud. In a brazenly partisan maneuver, t he Corporation for Public Broadcasting yesterday tapped Patricia Harrison,  former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as its next preside nt. This is just the latest in CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson’s efforts t o remake public broadcasting into a mouthpiece for the White House.