With the ousting of Tomlinson from PBS in the news, I thought it was a good time to revisit a diary I wrote that got barely a glance. In regards to the investigation of Tomlinson at PBS, I would say the republican/Rovian propaganda machine is several steps ahead of us (as they often are). The appointment Cheryl Halpern as the chair of PBS seems to be secure. As Marthature pointed out with her excellent comment in kos'
diary "Cheryl Halpern. the new GOP fundraiser Chairperson. Her mandate is to turn public broadcasting into a Bush-GOP propaganda machine.
Halpern hired former Republican National Committee co-chair Patricia de Stacy Harrison as CPB President. Harrison has brought along her subordinates from the State Department Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Division.
They are:
Tom Igsitt, Vice President for Government Affairs; Mike Levy, Vice President of Communications; and Helen Mobley, director of Corporate Communications and Planning.
All three have extensive overseas propaganda experience."
Attack on Public Access after the break
The Bill in the Senate is cloaked in republican double speak. Under the guise of reducing monopolies in the cable industry with language like "eliminate government managed competition of existing communication service" and "provide parity between functionally equivalent services." , the bill would take away the only funding that public access providers receive by eliminating the requirement for telecommunications companies to pay franchise fees.
Right now the telecommunication companies pay franchise fees to local municipalities for the right to use public lands for the right of ways through which they can run their cables. These fees are a pittance per subscriber, equal to about $3.50 per subscriber per year. I'm sure we subscribers pay 10x this amount in some fee or tax, but that is beside the point right now.
The bills want to replace local cable franchises with national franchises, cutting channel capacity for public, educational and governmental access channels also known as PEGs.
You gotta love these stations, not only do you get to view and hear your local politicians, psychics, entertainment rejects, religious prophets, etc., you also get late night low rent erotica programming (at least in NYC). The fun aside (the good, bad and ugly) they truly are a great source for local forums and over the years they have also become the only source for alternative news on air. Democracy Now is broadcast on them, news from across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, etc. You get the tinfoil brigade, many small excellent documentaries and a number of other alternative perspectives. They are pretty much uncensored and unfiltered and it is not paid for by any commercial interest. I am including this link to action alert for New Yorkers. Please use as proto types for letters to your own elected officials.
Action link
Also read the transcripts from an interview on Democracy Now concerning the matter: link