In this letter to the editor the author responds to the article “Christian Broadcast Association Supports End of Public Media Funding.” Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email [email protected].
The reader addressed multiple points made by NRB President/CEO Troy A. Miller:
On pubcasters benefiting from taxpayer revenue
“Public broadcasting has long benefited from taxpayer dollars while excluding many voices, especially faith-based and conservative perspectives,” Miller says.
Frankly, the National Religious Broadcasters should let the taxpayers complain about their dollars going to public broadcasting.
Has public broadcasting truly excluded “faith-based” and conservative perspectives? I haven’t found that to be the case in the fifty years I’ve followed it. Moreover, there are more than enough religious broadcasters to promote their own agendas. There’s no need for public broadcasting to mix religion and politics, as church and state are distinct entities.
It’s ironic that the self-proclaimed champion of conservatism accuses public broadcasting of the very same thing!
On the political viewpoint of public media
“Taxpayers should not be compelled to fund a media ecosystem that increasingly operates as a mouthpiece for one political perspective.”
Compelled? Is this claim made simply because the U.S. government, over the years, has provided financial support to public broadcasting? This objection seems to have only arisen with the current administration, which views public broadcasting as a mouthpiece for a single political perspective.
Miller noted that religious broadcasters “have operated for decades without government funding, sustained by the strength of their message and the support of their audience.”
Isn’t that audience often under tremendous pressure to fund religious broadcasters’ activities? After all, why do we need this kind of broadcasting, other than to hear the same messages repeated endlessly, while their revenue remains tax-free?
On NRB’s working toward a goal of promoting diverse viewpoints
NRB said it is a champion of viewpoint diversity.
Really? Does the NRB leader perhaps feel guilty about imposing one idea on his followers and is now trying to blind the rest of us as well?
It seems to me that the NRB dreams that defunding public broadcasters will cause their listeners and viewers to turn to religious broadcasters instead.
We need public broadcasters, as well as commercial ones, to hear the news, analysis, sports and scientific updates. Their listeners are mature and educated enough to draw their own conclusions. We don’t need religious broadcasters to impose their religious views on us. We’ve long ago decided whether to be religious or not, and what religion to follow; that’s a personal choice on a personal matter, with no need for religious broadcasters to intrude.
— Fotios Padazopulos
