Jon Stewart, Bill Moyers -- The radical right wing of the Republican party has been trying to undermine public broadcasting for 25 years.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Synopsis: The radical right wing of the Republican party has been trying to undermine public broadcasting for 25 years.
Until now, in the 35 year history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is divided, given the administration, between Republicans and Democrats, no one in a position of authority has attempted to work from the inside to undo public broadcasting.
++
Jon Stewart: Is it in your mind that the government, truly has a plan to dismantle Public Television as it exists now. Or is this a feeling of we will- put it under new management and change the way it does business.
Bill Moyers: The radical right wing of the Republican party has been trying to undermine public brodcasting for 25 years. They failed when Richard Nixon tried it because there were still moderate Republicans who leapt to the defense of public broadcasting, believing in things public. Newt Gingrich tried it in 1994 when he became the speaker of the house... at that time there was a Democrat in the white house and he didnt have the means to do it. This time, they've got the senate, they've got the house, they've got the executive branch and they are very close to seriously crippling the effectiveness of our local stations to do their job right
...............Snip......................
Stewart: Is there any legitimacy to the idea that public broadcasting does live in the domain of liberals, or is it in your mind not a liberal conservative Democrat Republican organization, its one of natural muckraking and natural uh... looking to the disinfranchised?
Moyers: I wish there were more of that in public broadcasting. I wish there were more of that in all of journalism. But serious journalism, real journalism, Jon scares the hell out of these guys. They just don't want you out reporting. You know what really got the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting upset? He said this to the Washington Post, was when I did a report, a segment about working people in a small town in Pennsylvania who were losing their jobs, losing the quality of their schools, losing their way of life. And we just did, what I would call a straight forward report. He told the Washington Post he was sitting at home watching that and it was more than he could take. He called it that old mantra of the right wing, liberal advocacy journalism. He confused liberalism with journalism. And they're always doing that because they do not want reporting that defies the party line.
Stewart: But don't all administrations, Democrat or Republican, not want reporting that defies the party line?
Moyers: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Stewart: But the others are less agressive in trying to combat it?
Moyers: Until now, in the 35 year history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is divided, given the administration, between Republicans and Democrats, no one in a position of authority has attempted to work from the inside to undo public broadcasting. Thats the difference. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is supposed to be a firewall between the journalist and the government. This is the first time in my history, I've been with it 35 years since I was President at its creation, from inside the Corporation for Public Broadcasting they have tried to dismantle that firewall.
Stewart: Now do you think-- the interesting thing to me strikes me as, its a new strategy. In Nixon's day, the strategy with the press seemed to be "lets seal the well, lets not let any leaks out". This administration seems to feel like "You know what? Leaks are going to get out there, lets poison the well". You know what I mean? Lets discredit-- Its almost like they're saying- "Lets not just put a cap on the news, lets discredit the whole business".
Moyers: And what doesn't have credibility today is the truth. I mean, they don't mind if the truth is out in one sense, because they've got a counter to it, the right wing media. 90% of talk radio is right wing. They've got there own- They've got their own Fox News Channel. Uh so they can just ignore the truth or they can batter it down until it is just dying.
Synopsis: The radical right wing of the Republican party has been trying to undermine public broadcasting for 25 years.
Until now, in the 35 year history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is divided, given the administration, between Republicans and Democrats, no one in a position of authority has attempted to work from the inside to undo public broadcasting.
++
Jon Stewart: Is it in your mind that the government, truly has a plan to dismantle Public Television as it exists now. Or is this a feeling of we will- put it under new management and change the way it does business.
Bill Moyers: The radical right wing of the Republican party has been trying to undermine public brodcasting for 25 years. They failed when Richard Nixon tried it because there were still moderate Republicans who leapt to the defense of public broadcasting, believing in things public. Newt Gingrich tried it in 1994 when he became the speaker of the house... at that time there was a Democrat in the white house and he didnt have the means to do it. This time, they've got the senate, they've got the house, they've got the executive branch and they are very close to seriously crippling the effectiveness of our local stations to do their job right
...............Snip......................
Stewart: Is there any legitimacy to the idea that public broadcasting does live in the domain of liberals, or is it in your mind not a liberal conservative Democrat Republican organization, its one of natural muckraking and natural uh... looking to the disinfranchised?
Moyers: I wish there were more of that in public broadcasting. I wish there were more of that in all of journalism. But serious journalism, real journalism, Jon scares the hell out of these guys. They just don't want you out reporting. You know what really got the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting upset? He said this to the Washington Post, was when I did a report, a segment about working people in a small town in Pennsylvania who were losing their jobs, losing the quality of their schools, losing their way of life. And we just did, what I would call a straight forward report. He told the Washington Post he was sitting at home watching that and it was more than he could take. He called it that old mantra of the right wing, liberal advocacy journalism. He confused liberalism with journalism. And they're always doing that because they do not want reporting that defies the party line.
Stewart: But don't all administrations, Democrat or Republican, not want reporting that defies the party line?
Moyers: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Stewart: But the others are less agressive in trying to combat it?
Moyers: Until now, in the 35 year history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is divided, given the administration, between Republicans and Democrats, no one in a position of authority has attempted to work from the inside to undo public broadcasting. Thats the difference. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is supposed to be a firewall between the journalist and the government. This is the first time in my history, I've been with it 35 years since I was President at its creation, from inside the Corporation for Public Broadcasting they have tried to dismantle that firewall.
Stewart: Now do you think-- the interesting thing to me strikes me as, its a new strategy. In Nixon's day, the strategy with the press seemed to be "lets seal the well, lets not let any leaks out". This administration seems to feel like "You know what? Leaks are going to get out there, lets poison the well". You know what I mean? Lets discredit-- Its almost like they're saying- "Lets not just put a cap on the news, lets discredit the whole business".
Moyers: And what doesn't have credibility today is the truth. I mean, they don't mind if the truth is out in one sense, because they've got a counter to it, the right wing media. 90% of talk radio is right wing. They've got there own- They've got their own Fox News Channel. Uh so they can just ignore the truth or they can batter it down until it is just dying.
posted by The humble Farmer at 8:11 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home