NEA, PBS, & The Artful Abuse of Taxpayer Airwaves
by Patrick CourrielcheFor those inclined to believe in the purity of public broadcasting, or naïve enough to feel it immune to financial pressures, I present to you this Wednesday’s PBS NewsHour.
In the first nationally televised interview with the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts since the infamous August 10th conference call, PBS NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown got straight to the heart of the controversy that many of us at Big Hollywood have been so diligently covering – its involvement in propaganda. How did NewsHour broach this topic, you may ask – by actually participating in propaganda.
You see, in the almost 8.5 minute interview, Chairman Rocco Landesman was asked a total of ZERO times about the NEA’s involvement in the meeting. He was asked ZERO times about the resignation of his Communications Director. He was asked ZERO times about NEA grantee Americans for the Arts’ involvement in advocating for health care reform legislation after the call. And he was asked ZERO times about “non-partisan” organization Rock The Vote’s launch of a universal health care campaign only days after the call.
Instead, what the PBS NewsHour chose to use as a theme of the segment was Rocco Landesman’s message that the NEA’s budget is “pathetic.”
“Why do you think the arts are so undervalued in our society,” asked NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown. Landesman answered with a list of governments that support the arts with far more taxpayer dollars, concluding, “We are, among all the developed world, the weakest supporter of the arts on a public basis.”
Now PBS will claim that they did their journalistic duty by asking Landesman about his “controversial” Peoria comment. But that whole controversy was nothing compared to the use of an agency to push legislation. It is just a safe way for a journalist to claim that the hard questions were asked.
“The great thing about this particular post, whatever the limitations of the budget, is that it’s a great bully pulpit,” said Chairman Landesman. And with that, the Chairman wraps into one statement what so many limited government types see as the problem with the NEA – it gives the government an opportunity to bloviate on the taxpayer’s dime.
The segment ended with PBS’ Gwen Ifill stating, “For the record, the National Endowment for the Arts is one of the funders of the NewsHour’s arts coverage.”
Wait – What did she just say?!?
A note to Mr. Brown and Ms. Ifill: The elitism witnessed in the Peoria statement is not controversial. Using a federal agency for propaganda, however, is. With your segment, PBS’ NewsHour can be added to the list of accomplices. Don’t you think we know that by making an NEA segment about the “pathetic” funding of the agency, PBS is also making a plea to the public for funding as well?
A taxpayer funded agency uses taxpayer airwaves to broadcast a request for more taxpayer dollars – it would actually be knee-slappingly funny if it weren’t so mind-numbingly infuriating.
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56 Comments
I so want them defunded.
Just another outrage nobody will do anything about. GRRRR
"A taxpayer funded agency uses taxpayer airwaves to broadcast a request for more taxpayer dollars – it would actually be knee-slappingly funny if it weren’t so mind-numbingly infuriating".
This sentence says it all.
Ugh! And I was having such a good day up until this point. I can't even bring myself to watch the friggin' video.
Landesman Fighting for Arts…my arse. Take a good look at that meter Rocco…your time has expired.
I am so sick an tired of these NEA Idiots! When we get our spending back on track and stop funding the NEA, the NEA and all the corupt creative sorts can go out and try to make an honest living. Why would these talanted individuals get involved promoting the
agendapropaganda of Hussein and his Posse of Clowns?This is the show that has David Brooks as their "conservative voice"….'nuff said….
More money for art? And NPR? "it would actually be knee-slappingly funny if it weren’t so mind-numbingly infuriating"
Nuff said.
You support the art you like when you buy a book. You support the art you like when you buy a CD or music download. You support the art you like when you buy a Blu Ray or DVD.
You support the art SOMEONE ELSE likes thanks to PBS and NPR. Something that is subjective from patron to patron should NOT be subsidized by tax dollars.
They did the exact same thing with Acorn while interviewing Juan Williams, who I like, but the interviewer summed up the issue as much to do about nothing. As in that instance, I just emailed the PBS Ombudsman with a complaint and link to this article:
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/feedback.html
This article is spot-on! If the lefties at so-called Public TV want to make appeals for more funding,
let them pass around their hat and also advertise their fundraising efforts on their own dime, not
the taxpayers'! I shall comment on this matter and related stories in my own blog, "Peasant With A
Pitchfork" http://peasantwithapitchfork.blogspot.com as well.
PBS is 90% neutral and 10% left leaning, and the best thing we have in America after the Christian Science Monitor and BBC American division. I personally can't stand NPR any more since they became commercial and also keep asking for donations. Globally, BBC and CSMonitor are the best there is. CNN and the rest are more about lowest common denominator commercial news reporting than serious news gathering. Fox, the most popular in America, of course does not qualify as an actual news organization. The conservative obsession with PBS is just laughable, particularly in light of their love of Fox.
You're joking, right? PBS is 10% left leaning? Fox is right leaning, when you consider what is considered news these days. All left leaning – MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NPR, PBS, 90% of major newspapers. You've obviously drank the kool-aide saying Fox doesn't qualify as news. What a moronic statement. They have newsies that have been on the other networks. You have to be joking. This is too idiotic to take seriously.
I have a feeling come November, you'll be doing exactly what you can about all of this.
I know I will.
I view Juan Williams as one of those modern liberals who straddles the fence, and can be salvaged. But there's an awful lot of bullshit academia he's been force fed that needs to be tested against harsh reality.
Maybe some day he'll come around. But not just yet.
I'm not surprised in the least. This is how modern liberals work.
They never ask uncomfortable questions, they just pretend things like this never happened. That's how Big Labor can sit down and play nice with the eco-wackos. They both just pretend that in reality the fact they are polar opposites never happened.
I had the opportunity to do a business management project on the athletics department for a neighboring major state college in my state. My college was a private University but the State college agreed to meet with us. The men's football team brought in roughly 10 million in profit. The men's basketball team brought in roughly a half million. The remainder of that money was used to fund the net losses of every other sport from women's basketball to intramural badmitton to gymnastics for Olympians.
PBS has Sesame Street which showcased the most memorable muppet characters and recently the Elmo craze. There are a few shows that are popular on PBS and NPR which if the government would enter contracts that took their share of royalties for their assistance in creating the work and giving the artists the showcase then the money from their share of the Tickle Me Elmo dolls alone would have given Rocco the 50 million he's whining about even if it was only a small slice. For this guy to lecture people on art being entreprenuerial and then demand taxpayer money is a CROCK!
when i'm king their funding won't be 'pathetic', because the NEA will no longer exist.
Of the ones you listed only MSNBC is left. All others are just garbage except for NPR, and they are all pretty much nuetral.
Name calling and personal attacks get you nowhere Todd.
10% – it must be a really BIG 10%.
And of course Fox does not qualify as an actual news organization! You're so bright Mark to be able to see that
So, in your very own logic Mark that would mean Barak Obama, who won the November presidential vote by being the most popular in the race of course does not qualify as an actual president. The liberal infatuation with PBS is just laughable, particularly in light of their love of Obama.
When I'm selected president (a wise move that a very savy America is starting to consider) I'm going to sit down with Mr. Landesman and show him the US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 where Congress has the power to:
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
"Mr. Landesman, there's nothing in the Constitution about grants and handouts. We want our money back. We'll take a check."
LOL! Nice try troll! I hafta sit trough lefty after lefty on FOX but do so in a conscience attempt to remain er "balanced".
Get you head out of Obama's arse, IT'S OVER!
Dems are jumping ship, the writting is on the wall – IT'S OVER ROVER! SOCIALIST UTOPIA IS on hold!
Can I come along and "waterboard him"? Just for fun?
That's too bad that I can't enable your dilusions.
Neutral? Now I know you're joking. They are all left. Very left.
Mark's not playing with a full deck. I guess to an uber lefty, all those "legitimate" news organizations would appear neutral.
The scary part is that a seeming awake individual will write all that crap like he BELIEVES it.
He must be chairing the Ed "Fatass" Schultz Senatorial committee.
Sorry, I couldn't resist Mark. You are a dillusional loon.
I wish Ed Schultz well in his quest to become a senator. We need a good laugh.
I have to say this whole piece reminded me of Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks" skit.
"The BBC is nearly communist"
Hands down the best news organization on the planet. Your commie comment is sad. I suppose you think 1+1=5. Your brain has truly been poisoned by the talking heads you listen to. The BBC communist? That's literally the most pathetic thing I've ever read on this website.
No. What's sad, Mark, is that you're a lemming. A loony, left wing lemming. They are to the left of Lenin. They're to the left of Lenin's left hand. Again, you're a nutjob.
Mark, don't stop chiming in. You're a riot!
To ToddM, I would probably call myself center or a bit left, but even if I were conservative I would have little tolerance for folks like you.
Beside the name calling, holding up the BBC as the extreme "communist' example is just embarrassing for a person of any political leaning.
Being conservative and opinionated is one thing, but you are hurting your cause and insulting everyone here by being so over the top and saying things that frankly strain the urge to remain polite in response.
He's not far right but he isn't a liberal either. In all fairness his counterpart is no Michael Moore.
Interesting perspective with the collegiate sports. I've always wondered how that worked.
I don't think commenting on people's weight adds much to the discourse. There are a lot of overweight people from all political affiliations.
And I find people like you adorable because you can't tell when someone's being facetious. I'm making fun of Mark because he actually thinks all those media outlets are down the middle. So get a sense of humor. Mark is a joke.-
Yes of course all though's others are the essense of nuetrality……
Let's see was it 60 minutes that bought exclusive rights to the Juanita Braderick interview and admitted to tabelling it until after the impeachment proceedings were over so as not to influence them. This despite the fact that they admit there own followup found her story that Bill Clinton raped her credible.
And it was Dan Rather was it not forging documents on a computer to harm Bush in the election againt Al Gore. Yes these are obviously the actions of nuetral journalists interested in objectivism on Planet 495 of the Kangaroo Court quadrant maybe …. here on planet earth it;s called being a lying propagandist.
Really find me one positive BBC report about any conservative American in that last four years. And by this I mean a conservative holding a conservative position not John McCain caving to democrats on Social Security reform. I started watching BBC America about a year and a half ago and stopped because the vitriolic partisan reporting was eveident they were no better than NBC.
But I don't consider european liberals communist I call them what they truly are Fascists bent on government control and immersion in corporations. You know Musolini's thrid way to make socialism work (Fascism, Socialism, Sindicalism, whatever it ends up in the fuedal based slavery the Europeans have over there). I'll pass.
The thing about us over here, as I've seen, as opposed to lefty sites like DailyKos, DemUnderground, HuffingtonPost, is that we have a sense of humor. We disagree with Obama and the Democrat Congress and stupid liberal tricks. But unlike them, we don't wish anyone harm. Yes I said it. People who frequent those sites do wish dissenters to their ideas, harm.
No matter how much money they get, all they can dish out is government cheese.
Just an observation, how come the arts took a real nosedive when the government got involved?
They may have used to be that way, but these days the entire operation is 90% left leaning and 10% neutral.
I remember listening to NPR explaining on why the Climategate emails were nothing, and no one should bother wasting any time on them.
"NPR We decide on what we Report."
By the way this college was under prohibition form the NCAA at the time for improper activities and only received half the bowl revenues. In normal years it was much more.
It is why the colleges care so much about football. It practically funds all their Title 9 requirements.
Self-investigating? PBS is just ACORN with MBAs
Have you ever heard Schultz' idea of "discourse"? He's a pig, he acts like a pig, pig like statements drool from his mouth so, in my opinion, he's worthless pig.
No more Marquis of Queensbury rules with these people DESTROYING my/our country. I SAVAGE them at every turn. That may offend some people's sensibilities….I watched call the former president every name in the book. The GLOVES ARE OFF, IT'S a RHETORICAL STREETFIGHT – so take cover.
Thank you Jazzy for being the voice of reason here. Otherwise we'd all be running over the cliff.
Hear, hear! Jazzy wants us to be nice and get our heads kicked in by people, of the left, who have NO shame, NO limits to how low they will go, NO limits on who they will personally destroy to get their ways (Sarah Palin and her family comes to mind.). You're right, time for being nice is over. We don't need to sink to the levels of the left (don't think we could anyway) and I don't think we have to. We have facts on our side and they are constantly calling names which means they were out of ammo out of the gate.
He IS a fat pig in every sense of the word!
I need to work on my opressive ideology labels. There's so much of every one of them floating around these days. What's happening here and the push to invade our privacy by Obama, Nancy and Harry kinda makes listening into phone calls to Tora Bora seem small time. By the way is Obama still wiretapping phone calls into Afghanistan? Just wondering I hadn't heard anything from the "Down the middle press" about it since Bush left office.
What's even better is I start my Masters in Poly Sci in a few days – then I take this act back east, first to Austin, then God willing to D.C.
The GOP needs an Atwater attitude again, now, I'm no Lee Atwater,he's the best ever but I think the party needs to get a hard edge again. We're flying AGAINST a strong liberal media headwind so the GOP needs to do SOMETHING to get an unfiltered message out. Let's face it MSNBC and CNN and their masters at the D.N.C. aren't gonna "play nice". Neither am I.
heeeellllll geeeeaaaaa!!!!!
I have to wonder of Garrison Keillor could sell a damned thing were it not for the captive dollars he receives. He was at one time a very gifted and entertaining writer. Now, like so many others, he has become just another bitter man with a typewriter or word processor.
The Republicans have been making noises about defunding them for years. Just like they have defunded Amtrak, defunded the Dept of Education, the National Endowment for the (bad) Arts, and other such things.
One can just see how much they have kept those promises, even when in charge.
This is outrageous. Excellent reporting.
Thank you for staying on top of the NEA story.
The hypocrisy of those long winded telethons and they are getting unlimited $$ from the taxpayer. It makes my blood boil. People out of work and our money funding idiocy.
Great reporting once again Patrick. Stay safe.
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