MMMM #132 -- about PBS

Last Week, Ken Burns wrote passionately in the Washington Post about the need for a Public Broadcasting system:

"...we have never needed them more..."

     Burns made both a name for himself and a good deal of money by producing documentaries broadcast on PBS, programs that he argues rightly would never have made it in the world of commercial TV.

     His comments come as the GOP Majority U.S. House votes to remove all federal funding for the publicasters.

     As mentioned earlier on this blog, the Alabama network that carries PBS programs is facing a double threat. If the spending cutters have their way, funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will dry up, and the state GOP, with super majorities in both the Alabama House and Senate, may have their eyes on that funding too.

     At least APT is under the Education Budget, not the General Fund, which is going to virtually kill some agencies because The Departments of Corrections and Medicaid are being protected from cuts, deepening the reductions for everyone else.

     When I first spotted the headline of the Burns column in the Post, I thought it read "Public broadcasting, a 'luxury' we can do without"...and I had virtually written this post in my mind before I blinked and saw it was "can't do without."

     He makes a good argument, but when the choice is between dinner or a new Television..and that's where Alabama's budgets are headed.

     I also have a great Ken Burns story to tell...but we'll save that for later.



[Photo: The last For The Record, two years ago this Month.]