Big Bird and Elmo soon may be looking for a new address.
President Barack Obama's fiscal 2012 budget includes $451 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which oversees PBS and National Public Radio. But congressional Republicans want to cut the CPB's funding entirely, which could mean "Sesame Street" and other programs would be forced to find another network.
Republicans say taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill for the same sort of programming that the History Channel, A&E, and National Geographic offer commercially. Democrats are pushing back announcing plans Wednesday to restore funding for Sesame Street and other kids' shows.
Are the cuts to public broadcasting a case of Republican spending hawks gone too far? Or is it time for Elmo and Big Bird to get real jobs? Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, weigh in.
BEN BOYCHUK
The numbers of the day, as "Sesame Street's" Count von Count might say, are "20" and "33."
Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop, Sesame Street's producer) counts on government subsidies for 20 percent of its annual operating budget. That works out to about $37 million from various federal agencies.
But Sesame Street earns 33 percent of its annual revenue, about $48.3 million, from licensing fees on products ranging from Grover reusable tote bags and "Big Bird Sings!" CDs to the ever-popular Tickle-Me Elmo. Another 33 percent of revenue comes from distribution fees and royalties. Not bad for a nonprofit organization.
Sesame Street, in other words, isn't just a popular TV program that has educated and entertained millions of children for more than 40 years. It's also a successful business built on taxpayers' generosity.
Cutting federal subsidies for PBS, NPR -- and, by extension, such TV and radio shows as "Sesame Street," "Frontline" and "All Things Considered" -- would not necessarily mean their disappearance. Instead, those programs would find other outlets and other revenue. All of those programs currently receive heavy corporate and foundation support. And it isn't hard to imagine most NPR and PBS programming finding a second life on satellite, cable and the Internet.
Whenever Congress cuts a beloved program, the standard retort is usually "This is a small price to pay for a public good." CPB's current $420 million appropriation is akin to an accounting error in the federal government's $3 trillion budget. But that's the problem.
Government cannot and should not do everything "good."
The economic crisis has forced everyone to sacrifice. Instead of increasing Big Bird's allowance, it's time he left his tax-funded nest.
JOEL MATHIS
The real face of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting isn't attached to a Muppet. Instead, it belongs to a wind-burned rancher out in Western Kansas, a man who listens to "All Things Considered" on High Plains Public Radio in his truck while checking his herd.
This is the part of the world usually revered by Republicans as "real America," and it is, perversely, the place that would suffer most if the GOP gets its way. High Plains Public Radio -- which provides NPR's news programming, along with programs from the BBC World Service -- gets roughly 35 percent of its budget from state and federal sources. And it would be devastated if that money went away.
Does the United States government face a fiscal crisis? Sure. But the CPB's federal budget -- $420 million in 2010 -- isn't even a drop in the budgetary bucket. And the money spent on public broadcasting creates a public good far more valuable than those dollars would indicate: It creates a better-informed citizenry, the kind needed for a well-functioning democracy.
Republicans assert that the media landscape has grown so diverse there is no longer a need (if there ever was one) for the CPB. They are wrong. In Western Kansas -- and in rural areas around the country -- NPR affiliates represent the one place on the dial where in-depth news and analysis can be found.
Take that away, leave all those Americans at the mercy of whatever lowest-common-denominator pap that for-profit radio stations serve them, and Republicans will have done a great job of making more consumers -- but a lousy, unconscionable job at helping those folks be citizens. We owe each other better than that.
Elmo will survive; he's got the royalties from toy sales after all.
But the CPB is more than Muppets; it's a vital contributor to American life. It must be saved.
Contact Ben Boychuk at bboychuk(at)heartland.org and Joel Mathis at joelmmathis(at)gmail.com. Boychuk and Mathis blog regularly at www.somewhatreasonable.com and joelmathis.blogspot.com.
Accuracy posted at 11:12 am on Sat, Feb 19, 2011.
"The CPB's federal budget -- $420 million in 2010 -- isn't even a drop in the budgetary bucket."
On Saturday, Feb. 19th, the House of Representatives passed the bill defunding Public Broadcasting and Net Netrality.
The bill, which passed by a 235 to 189 vote, not only cuts the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) $420 million from the federal government, but totally cuts $61.5 billion from the budget. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:18 am on Sat, Feb 19, 2011.
I wonder if the average Arizona worker who is going to have to work over-time or on Saturdays to help 2010 Federal Income taxes thinks that...."$420 Million Dollars" is a "DROP IN THE BUCKET" ???
Is this the .."BEST" argument that the Liberals can come up with ...that ....$420 Million Dollars is ...."CHUMP CHANGE" ??
Well, buddy, in one respect you are "RIGHT" for once.....Americans were "CHUMPS" to let the Left-Wing Liberals and Socialist to get away with "STICKING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC" for this anti-American, anti-Capitalist, anti-religious, pro-abortion, pro-Illegal Alien Amnesty ..propaganda for so lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.
Last November 2nd, 2010, the American People woke up and realised that America was sliding downhill into becoming a Socialist Nation. Ethnic and Racial "SEPARATISM"...not..."INCLUSION" was being legislated into the American System. Cinco de Mayo had become an ..."OFFICIAL HOLIDAY" in California and other West Coast cities. Teenage and younger school children were being suspended and under threat of expulsion for wearing or waving the American Flag. Did we see any PBS or NPR, television channels or radio stations condemning this...."NO".....just the opposite....calls for "ethnic sensitivity" and "understanding" were the BUZZ WORDS.
A "better informed citizenry"???...I wish the second author could watch our local PBS tv station, ASU-KAET, Channel 8's "HORIZON" and "HORIZONTE" evening shows. He would see a pro-choice, pro-Illegal Alien Amnesty, pro-Sanctuary City, pro-Democrat...."AGENDA"...day in, day out.
An "indepth news and analysis" ....are you kidding me...Republicans are crucified and the Democrats are deified on the news/analysis programs.
And lastly "vital contributor to American Life"...puleeezzzzz...I remember cracking up laughing at the antics of the infamous..CYNTHIA P. CASTER....on the NPR local Los Angeles radio station on the way home from work in the 1970's...KPFK was as the forefront of the pro-medical marijuana issue (but without the "medical" part) way back then.