The Daily Cal editorial board joins MoveOn.org’s crusade to “Save Sesame Street.” Their editorial is a just rehash of pro-PBS talking points, but their conclusion leads to nowhere (but a link to MoveOn). One would think that they would have learned how to form a logical argument from their years of watching Sesame Street, but that is not the case:

It’s hard to believe $220 million—which, though crucial for public broadcasting, is peanuts compared to many other federally sponsored projects—will make as much difference in budget balancing as it will in educational, informative and commerical-free programming. The real issue behind the cuts is likely that some conservatives see a liberal bias in public news programs.

True, $220 million is nothing. But one dollar is worth fighting for if it goes towards something that is against your beliefs. In this case, not the content of public broadcasting, but the existence of public broadcasting. The Daily Cal and other public broadcasting boosters are trying to make this battle and exclusively partisan one. However, many small-government conservatives and libertarians as well as anti-state leftists think the government has no place in broadcasting. I personally enjoy a couple of programs on PBS, but my small government tendencies remind me that the government shouldn’t be funding my enjoyment.

Anyway, enough of that. The Daily Cal is about to blame Republicans again:

Just recently, Republican Kenneth Tomlinson, chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, condemned PBS and Bill Moyer for perceived liberal leanings. In fact, the Bush-appointed chairman even paid a man to report on the political leanings of guests on Moyer’s program “Now.” It’s no wonder public broadcasting finds itself in peril. Many public news programs, not to mention educational children’s programming, will no longer have the support to continue. According to public media advocates, this drop in funding will ultimately harm production of local programming.

Oh no, a Republican is in charge! Now he will stay true to his beliefs and end public broadcasting! If only that were the case. Why would the head of an organization intentionally try to destroy it? Once you’re at the top, you start to think that maybe you can reform it, make it better. In this case, by adding a few conservative voices for balance. People love power, even if it goes against their ideology: “According to The Nation, when the conservative PBS personality Ben Wattenberg heard that public TV might lose its federal support he said, ‘What! Just when we’ve taken it over?’” (from this Reason article on the subject). And now it all makes sense: why this bill will fail though it should not, and why PBS (albiet a little more politically balanced) is safe.

But if a miracle happens and Republicans act like conservatives (and not like Republicans), NPR and PBS will still be safe. Why? Recently deceased billionaires and Tickle Me Elmo.

I can stop now, knowing full well that this isn’t going anywhere. But the conclusion of the editorial it too much to pass up:

In our age of 300-plus cable channels full of limited, dogmatic news presentation, it’s important to have media that isn’t compromised, be it in the form of mind-numbing ads or highly political presentations.

They tell me that there’s this new thing called the “Internet” that should be available ten or twenty years from now. Thank goodness for that. Now I won’t have to deal with this “compromised media” all the time.

Even if those in power don’t agree with what is said on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, it isn’t their place to silence it.

Even if those in power agree with what is said on The News Hour with Him Lehrer, it isn’t their place to fund it with taxpayer money.

Public broadcasting is meant to reflect the public, not companies or politics. If it slashes these funds, Congress will have struck a damaging blow to free speech.

Like it or not, the public is comprised of political people. If public broadcasting has to exist, it should reflect the politics of the public. Maybe PBS Blue and PBS Red (and Vanilla PBS for those inbetween). But then we’re back to square one. Let’s forget the whole thing and get government out of the media business. The Daily Cal should know better than most that government-funded speech is not free speech. If they need a history lesson, they should read their own site:

One of the few campus newspapers in the country that is completely independent from the university it covers, the Daily Cal supports itself entirely from advertising revenue and does not receive equipment resources or any form of financial support from the university or the Associated Students of the University of California…

The move towards independence was initiated after the university administration attempted to fire three editors because of a controversial editorial regarding People’s Park…

The freest speech is government-free. End public broadcasting.