Once again, ABC News reporter John Stossel proves why more conservative voices are needed in the so-called “mainstream media.”
Privatize PBS – RealClearPolitics.com
He starts off with a bang….
My cable company made me a remarkable offer: They want to add a new channel to my cable subscription — and you will pay for it. The channel will have liberal news, highbrow entertainment and a variety of educational programming.
Sounds insane, and yet the channel isn’t new. It’s called PBS.
But then he gets to the real point.
Republicans should stop dithering about reducing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s subsidies and eliminate them altogether. Of course, when anyone suggests cutting the PBS budget, people say, “they’re trying to kill ‘Sesame Street’!” But “Sesame Street” is big business and would survive in any environment. “Children’s programming that has an audience does not need taxpayer subsidies,” says Jacob Sullum of Reason. “Noggin, which is more ‘commercial-free’ than PBS stations, carries 12 hours of kids’ shows (including two different versions of ‘Sesame Street’) every day. Parent-acceptable children’s programming can also be seen on Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and ABC Family.”
Stossel ends the piece with a quote from David Boaz, the author of “Libertarianism: A Primer.”
“We wouldn’t want the federal government to publish a national newspaper, writes Boaz, “why should we have a government television network and a government radio network? If anything should be kept separate from government and politics, it’s the news and public affairs programming that Americans watch. When government brings us the news — with all the inevitable bias and spin — the government is putting its thumb on the scales of democracy. It’s time for that to stop.”
To me, the most important point is also at the end: PBS, on the other hand, is broadcasting by bureaucracy. This is not a good thing. We should have separation of news and state.
Separation of news and state. That should be the new mantra for conservatives. Sounds like the great title for a blog, too.
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com