WQED joins push to preserve federal aid
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Growing up, Deborah Acklin's parents didn't want her watching TV.
"Literally, public television was the one thing our family made the exception for. ... I watched WQED in very limited amounts," she said.
The station is, of course, close to Ms. Acklin's heart in many other ways; as current president and CEO of WQED Multimedia, it is her priority to keep public television thriving.
But these are tough times. Operating budgets are dwindling, and America's us-versus-them climate of news and entertainment programming has practically driven audiences to choose sides.
Public television and radio is nonpartisan, but some people equate it with National Public Radio and a "liberal" philosophy.
"This is a time for people to step up and support us, in a world where media is not always high quality," said Ms. Acklin. "It's not just [for] us, it's the other [public outlets] such as WYEP and WDUQ. It's all for one, and one for all."
Hence, the recent announcement that WQED is joining an effort to "harness grass-roots enthusiasm for public media in the wake of three bills introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to cut or eliminate funding."
The "170 Million Americans" movement aims to preserve state and federal support for public broadcasting. According to Arbitron figures, that's the number of Americans who take advantage of public service media each month.
There are 368 public television stations in the U.S., and 934 public radio stations.
WQED representatives say the company plans to promote the campaign effort to members, general public, underwriters and the foundation community in its four-state viewing area of 1.17 million households and through wqed.org. They've started with e-mails designed to drive supporters to the 170 Million website, and local events will be announced in upcoming months.
One of the two bills introduced in the House by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, would eliminate all federal subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), parent organization of National Public Radio (NPR).
"Government-funded broadcasting is now unnecessary in a world of 500-channel cable TV, satellite radio, and cell phone Internet access," Mr. Lamborn wrote in a Jan. 12 blog on The Hill website.
He also notes that in a shaky economy where the national debt exceeds $1.4 trillion, cost-cutting is a painful fact of life: "When the federal government is now borrowing more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends, no one can justify paying for services that are widely available in the private market."
First Published January 27, 2011 12:00 am
