Gingrich on PBS

The House Speaker from Georgia seems to believe that not enough of us are paying attention to the message he wants us to hear. Else why in the face of what is apparently overwhelming, popular and bipartisan support for federal funding of public broadcasting would he continue to insist that such funding be “zeroed out” (Jan. 18)?

Bombastic Newt has reacted to a poll showing that voters would favor increased funding for public radio and television like an authoritarian parent whose teen-agers are spending too much time watching television instead of listening to Dad pound home his conservative message. He thinks that if he pulls the plug on the television and the radio and cuts our allowance his “message” will get across quicker.

The message that the Speaker should be hearing is that we don’t like being bossed around by shrill martinets who think they know what is best for us.

I travel widely in the course of my job and I rely on college and community radio for timely news and for informed, unbiased reporting from NPR--reporting that gives fair weight to all points of view, including Newt’s. If the Speaker has his way, within two years time these stations will go silent.

WILLIAM TIERNEY

Hermosa Beach

* Did someone forget to tell Newt and the boys that the TV and radio airwaves are owned by the public? Maybe it’s time for the taxpayers to call in their chits and require payment of money from the broadcasters and advertisers for each program and commercial broadcast on our airwaves. Commercial broadcasting has been stealing assets from the taxpayers long enough. How dare these radical reactionaries call for the demise of public television funding.

LEDA MEDEARIS

Apple Valley