Former PBS omnipresence Bill Moyers is at it again, agitating against Republicans for daring to oppose National Public Radio subsidies. In the latest installment (with Michael Winship) on The Huffington Post, Moyers concluded with a quote illustrating "the importance of a public media whose obligation is not to a political or corporate paymaster, but to the integrity of the work and the trust of the listener." NPR, he claimed, was like Kennedy's tribute to the poet Robert Frost:
"The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state," Kennedy said. "... In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. And the nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost's hired man, the fate of having 'nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope.'"
NPR is somehow against intrusive, meddlesome government? Moyers insists that somehow public broadcasting is the only media check on the conservative movement in America. Those other private networks don't seem to be any help to liberals at all.
Republicans, we're told, are on a crusade "to feed red meat to Fox News and the partisan talk radio hosts who have turned the public airwaves -- remember, the airwaves above our fair and bountiful land belong to you, Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. America -- into a right-wing romper room."
For young readers, that was a long-time show for preschoolers. But wait, wouldn't Moyers favor educational television? Maybe not, if it's private. In fact, leftists like the group Action for Children's Television (instrumental behind PBS) slammed Romper Room for pitching too many toys to kids (yeah, as if ACT's dream show Sesame Street wouldn't become a merchandising colossus.)
The Wikipedia entry on the show reported each program began with the Pledge of Allegiance (not in public broadcasting!) and the hostess would serve milk and cookies to the children (not vegetables?), with a prayer offered before eating (PBS officials would faint.)
Moyers added:
Opposing the bill to strip public radio of funding, Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas said, "My constituents turn to [public radio] because they want fact-based, not Fox-based coverage." The attacks, he continued, are "an ideological crusade against balanced news and educational programs."
It's amazing that Moyers can insist shamelessly that blatant liberal bias is fact-based, balanced news.
