Thursday, June 8, 2006

This is about sex, because power is an aphrodesiac.

My peeps,

If we could talk about something really sexxy for just a second, I'd like to discuss ... public broadcasting. Yes, it's hot stuff; caliente. But please, read on. It gets even sexier.

Corporate media's goal is to get you to watch ads. That's a great motive to fund shows like the Simpsons, The Daily Show, The OC, but it's not great for news. Whichever way these networks lean politically, they all lean economically towards profit.

PBS and NPR are the only outlets in the media landscape that stand distinct from all other media outlets, which exist to make money. Public broadcasting exists to inform, educate, inspire and engage. The critical idea here is that PBS provides an essential alternative because America is a democracy. Without public broadcasting, all of America's airwaves are run by corporations.

Now hard enough to believe, the party of power in Congress is seeking to eliminate funding for public broadcasting, even after a public outcry stopped it last year. I'm not big on online petitions, but I'm big on keeping the media landscape level. If you care about keeping the media landscape even marginally democratic, please sign the petition at this link.

http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting

thank you,

rob

Also, read the Boston Globe story on the threat to NPR and PBS.

Also, the C.S. Monitor is a rare privately-funded media source that serves up reliable news.

Also, my band Analog Jetpack will be playing in DC this month and New York City next month.

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