I’m sitting under the Arch in St. Louis, home of the Pulitzer Prize, gearing up for the 2^nd National Media Reform Conference, and pondering the fate of PBS. 

     Alaska narrowly missed a significant cut to PBS funding recently, thanks to the efforts of a high paid lobbyist who made sure the cut didn’t make it to the Senate budget.  But the scene at the national level doesn’t look so good.  Currently the GOP has successfully garnered the reigns of public broadcasting and is converting the network into a publicly funded FOX News channel.

     Reported in the St. Petersburg Times on May 8^th:  “The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Kenneth Y. Tomlinson has been quietly pressuring the public TV outlet to feature more conservative voices for at least a year.  The outward signs of PBS's nod to conservatives are hard to miss: New shows for the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board and new-school conservative Tucker Carlson; the departure of longtime progressive Bill Moyers from his newsmagazine NOW; and the decision to hold back an episode of a children's show featuring a family headed by a lesbian couple, following criticism from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.”

     A front-page New York Times story (5/2/05) added to mounting evidence that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under chair Kenneth Tomlinson is pressuring public television officials to produce more conservative programming, and to rein in shows it perceives as liberal.  "The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias," reported the Times, adding that CPB pressure has prompted "some public broadcasting leaders-- including the chief executive of PBS-- to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence."  An unnamed senior FCC official used even starker terms, telling the Washington Post (4/22/05) that the CPB under Tomlinson "is engaged in a systematic effort not just to sanitize the truth, but to impose a right-wing agenda on PBS. It's almost like a right-wing coup. It appears to be orchestrated."

     You’d think corporate media and the GOP would be satisfied with the consolidation of approximately 95% of the media in our nation and leave publicly funded television alone.  But no… they obviously fear a free press.  Thomas Paine, Joseph Pulitzer, and Mark Twain must be turning in their graves right about now.

     In November of 2003, I attended the first National Media Reform Conference.  On my way there, I reread Orwell’s ‘1984’.  I was dumbstruck by the high incidence of newspeak and doublespeak I was witnessing in mainstream news reports at that time.  Being the twisted groupie I am, I had to have Amy Goodman, from DemocracyNow, autograph my copy.  She was so gracious and validating.  She wrote, “Down with newspeak!”   I walked away knowing I was not a crazy conspiracy theorist.   At the same time, it was quite disconcerting to be aware of the fact that we do not experience a free press in this country today.  It is even more disturbing because I know that the ideal of democracy can only be realized when citizens are fully informed.  Thus, a free press is vital if we are going to live in a democracy.

     One of the main focuses for the first conference was the FCC rule changes affecting media consolidation and the fact that over 2 million people contacted Michael Powell to express their disgust for higher percentages of media ownership.  Those 2 million people came from all points of view and about 300,000 members of the National Rifle Association were part of that nonpartisan coalition.  Another important issue covered was what the mainstream press was choosing not to cover, i.e. the millions of people against the illegal invasion of Iraq.

     PBS was in trouble at the time because Bill Moyers was one of the few journalists to run stories questioning the US invasion of Iraq and the legitimacy of the PATRIOT Act, and for raising other questions the current administration would like us to forget.  This administration counts on us having an extremely short attention span.  In fact, Ralph Nader pointed out how the sound bytes for political messages have gone from 9 seconds in the 80’s to 2-3 seconds today.

     The conference kicks off tonight with a fundraiser for the alternative media organization - KDHX 88.1FM and KDHX TV.  I know the current state of affairs at PBS will be highlighted and I will be submitting a follow-up report, post conference to insurgent49.  With over 2000 attendees and presenters like Janine Jackson from FAIR, Naomi Klein. Victor Navaski from the Nation and Amy Goodman from DemocracyNow, I am certain I will come home with plenty of ammunition for, as Bill Moyers said at the first conference, “the fight of our lives.” 

Katy Parrish is a freelance writer and media activist who can be reached at takebackthemedia@hotmail.com.