This Dead Air is Brought to You by...

Thanks to all of you who have made contact with NCPR and your representatives in Congress to weigh in on the proposed cuts to public broadcasting. The bill is scheduled for a vote today in the House of Representatives.

It may seem unduly self-serving for public broadcasting stations to use their media to report on this issue that affects their interest. However, public funds are only part of the mix--a minority part--of support for public broadcasting. The proposed federal action puts in jeopardy the value and even the continued existence of community institutions that are, in largest part, the fruit of the private investment of hundreds of thousands of individual donors. As a public broadcaster, we owe our supporters some explanation, and some opportunity to protect what they have built in this decades-long partnership between government, individual donors, charitable and commercial institutions, journalists, artists, producers, broadcasters and listeners. While all of us at NCPR would much rather focus on making public broadcasting instead of defending public broadcasting--a little hot air is much preferable to a whole lot of dead air.