By Don Irvine ——Bio and Archives--May 30, 2011
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That figure had already been reduced by 30 percent from the amount broadcasters received last year. With the cuts, each of 13 public radio stations will lose $87,287 in state funds compared with last year, and each of the 13 public television stations will lose a subsidy of $434,837. Stations receive the same subsidy, regardless of size. “For me, it is critical; for a small station it might be catastrophic,” said Rick Schneider, president and chief executive of Miami’s WPBT-TV. He said there was “no doubt that people are going to have to look at layoffs” and that he would not be surprised if some stations were shut down. The broadcasters will work to get the funds reinstated, he said.That may be easier than said since Scott vetoed $615 million in what he called special interest spending before signing the state’s new budget. If PBS wants some or all of it’s taxpayer funding back then they should make a concerted effort to balance its programming to better serve the public which it has so richly fed off of for decades. Only then will we see if the network is interested in serving the public good or wishes to remain an outlet for liberal views to a limited audience.
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Don Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy in Media and its sister organization Accuracy in Academia. As the son of Reed Irvine, who launched AIM in 1969, he developed an understanding of media bias at an early age, and has been actively involved with AIM for over 30 years.