WASHINGTON, D.C.—A government $20 trillion in debt has just extended—not eliminated, as promised—funding for a public broadcaster that regularly infuriates and offends half the country.
The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 not only gave the Corporation for Public Broadcasting its regular $495 million sweetsop, Congress threw in another $50 million to upgrade its “interconnection system.”
Yet again, it was a two-year “advance appropriation” for the CPB—a special arrangement designed “to provide a firewall of independence” from the government accountability that usually goes hand- in-hand with government funding.
