Bad news on Sesame Street: Ernie, Bert, Oscar the Grouch and everyone else who call that address home are going to see their welfare checks cut if the Bush Administration gets its way.
Look, if the shows are any good, people will watch them -- and private firms will be happy to broadcast them. If they aren't people won't -- and why support shows no one watches? And if you really want to support public TV that bad then feel free to send them a donation.
I also take exception to this notion that without taxpayer-supported broadcasting that there would be nothing but drivel on television. Plainly that is not true. One of the most-watched children's shows out there is Blue's Clues, which is on Nickelodeon. Indeed, this Newsweek story notes that because of competition that there are more quality shows out there than ever before.
But people like Congressman Markey can't fathom that because they love government and are inherently suspicious of the free market.
President George W. Bush took a swipe at Big Bird and his ilk Monday as he proposed slashing funds to public broadcasting by more than $150 million.About time. Why should my tax dollars go to support an enterprise that already generates plenty of revenue? Sesame Street is enormously successful -- remember a few years ago when there was a big Christmas run on Tickle Me Elmo dolls? Sesame Street had to make out like bandits on that. And if they didn't it shows a severe lack of business acumen and how much they have been sheltered from the competitive marketplace.
In the president's 2007 budget request, funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be cut by $53.5 million in 2007 and $50 million more in 2008. Those cuts don't reflect others made in funding at the Education and Commerce departments and the elimination of specific programs for digital TV conversion and satellite delivery system. Public broadcasting officials estimate that the entire budget cuts run $157 million over the two-year period.
"Oscar the Grouch has been friendlier to the Sesame Street characters than President Bush, who has chosen to make huge cuts to children's television programming," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "In a world of fast-and-furious television with ratings-driven content, the public broadcasting system represents the last stronghold of quality child-oriented programming -- we owe this to America's children."
Look, if the shows are any good, people will watch them -- and private firms will be happy to broadcast them. If they aren't people won't -- and why support shows no one watches? And if you really want to support public TV that bad then feel free to send them a donation.
I also take exception to this notion that without taxpayer-supported broadcasting that there would be nothing but drivel on television. Plainly that is not true. One of the most-watched children's shows out there is Blue's Clues, which is on Nickelodeon. Indeed, this Newsweek story notes that because of competition that there are more quality shows out there than ever before.
But people like Congressman Markey can't fathom that because they love government and are inherently suspicious of the free market.
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