Funds for Public Broadcasting

A Times’ editorial Jan. 22 did right to lump together the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds “public” television and radio, for they are much alike. Both spend huge amounts of public money, usually increasing yearly faster than the cost of living. Both are fronted by respectable but careless persons who leave decision-making to faceless bureaucrats. The bureaucrats seem to have a grudge against our country and traditional community values; they oppose American policy in Central America and elsewhere; and they support attacks on the Christian religion, as by means of the NEA-funded Serrano exhibit and the anti-Catholic show, “Stop the Church,” broadcast on public TV.

It was reported (Jan. 20) that Senate Democrats believe they have enough votes to pass the pending three-year CPB funding bill. They will probably pass it in order to reward the CPB for its left-liberal politics, demonstrated by anti-Reagan and anti-Bush “documentaries” and the activity of National Public Radio in organizing opposition to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Jan. 22 editorial says that “Congress would be wise not to enter the fray” over public broadcasting. But Congress is where the fray is, and where the CPB’s political bias will probably be rewarded by the Democratic majority when it gets the chance. It is not a question of whether to have politics or not, but rather a question of what kind of politics the public will be forced to pay for.

RICHARD A. PERKINS, Los Angeles