From the Free Press:

The partisan attack on public broadcasting continues. First, they targeted PBS and NPR news programs for signs of "liberal bias." Now they're sharpening their knives for Big Bird.

A congressional subcommittee has voted to slash more than $200 million in funding for public broadcasting, including $23.4 million earmarked for "Ready to Learn" children's educational programming -- the money that keeps shows like "Sesame Street," "Arthur," and "Clifford the Big Red Dog" on the air.

Thousands of phone calls are needed today to save public broadcasting. Call your member of Congress now.

The subcommittee slashed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget by $100 million and voted to "zero out" all federal money for CPB within two years. Small television and radio stations that serve rural communities and minority audiences will be devastated by these cuts.

The CPB is already embroiled in controversy over Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson's attempts to withhold funding from PBS programs that don't follow his conservative political line. Apparently dissatisfied with this effort to make public broadcasting more "fair and balanced," the Republican majority is now trying to bankrupt the entire system.

We must stop these cuts from passing in the House of Representatives. Here's what you can do:

1. Call your U.S.representative and ask him or her to restore full funding for public broadcasting. Tell your representative: "Like millions and millions of other Americans, I rely on public broadcasting's superb children's programming and trustworthy news and information. Please protect public broadcasting and restore full federal funding for PBS, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."

2. Send a letter to Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), the chairman and vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, letting them know that the American public opposes these cuts and doesn't want partisan interference in public broadcasting.

Congress needs to hear from the tens of millions of Americans who tune in every day -- whether it's for Big Bird or Bill Moyers, "Reading Rainbow" or "Morning Edition." Despite overwhelming popular support for public broadcasting, the Republican leadership and partisan board members at the CPB are attempting to gag and starve public media in America.

Don't let them. Call your representatives right away -- and forward this message to everyone you know.

Onward,
Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
www.freepress.net