Larry Pressler

* Your Feb. 5 editorial mildly chastising Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) for his “bizarre letter to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting” was a timid criticism inappropriate to his serious misconduct. Pressler demanded, under government authority, that CPB employees provide information on previous work experience to see who worked at “liberal” institutions. Based on your mild response, and the failure of our government institutions to strongly denounce his actions, the right-wing Pressler accomplished much of what he set out to accomplish. Namely, to have supervisors consider the political background of potential employees when making hiring decisions.

We liberals (you may note that the media have been so identified by the reactionary right) should take note that when the government fails to support the Constitution and protect citizens from persecution based on political affiliations, and when our centers of mass media acquiesce, then we set the stage for the type of reactionary regression that America experienced in 1950s and that saw Europe destroy itself in the 1930s.

JONATHAN DOUWE

Santa Paula

* I have supported the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio for years. I feel I have made an investment in quality TV and radio that is independent of the whims and bottom line of advertisers and the corporations that support them.

I pay taxes. Much of my tax money goes to projects and people of whom I do not approve. When Congress starts talking of cutting the relatively minuscule support provided to PBS and NPR and selling my investment off to people like Rupert Murdoch, I become livid with anger! It appears to me Murdoch is buying not only Speaker Newt Gingrich but the entire Republican Congress!

JOANNE M. MURPHY

Los Angeles