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Press Tour: PBS chief defends Big Bird against Mitt Romney's commercial plan

Paula Kerger sticks up for public broadcasting against the Republican front-runner

By Daniel Fienberg Wednesday, Jan 4, 2012 9:14 PM

Press Tour: PBS chief defends Big Bird against Mitt Romney's commercial plan

PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger

Credit: Rahoul Ghose/PBS

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In a public appearance last week, Republican president candidate Mitt Romney expressed support for PBS, but also support for completely overhauling the way that PBS stays afloat.
 
"I like PBS. We subsidize PBS. Look, I'm going to stop that. I'm going to say, ‘PBS is going to have to have advertisements,'" Romney told Iowa voters, according to ABC. "We're not going to kill Big Bird, but Big Bird's going to have to have advertisements, all right?"
 
This, of course, would be a total upheaval of the way that PBS does business.
 
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday (January 4), the first morning of the Television Critics Association press tour, PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger offered her somewhat partisan take on Romney's plan.
 
"Well, I'm glad that he said that he liked public broadcasting," Kerger began. 
 
Kerger continues, "I know that this is a period in our country's history where, as a nation, we do have to make tough decisions, but I also will tell you that in as we were as when we were founded we have always been an effective public private partnership of federal money, which makes up 15 percent of our funding. And, now, that's an aggregate number. The funding that comes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting goes largely to stations. And for some of our stations, it represents 10 percent of their budget, but in a number of stations, particularly in rural parts of the country, it could be as much as 40 or 50 percent of their budget. And that money could not be made up. We try to leverage it very carefully. The federal investment in public broadcasting amounts to about $1.35 a person a year. I used to say that would be the price of a cup of coffee but most places it's not. And I think that what we hope to do and will continue to do over the next months is to make it clear to our elected officials that we have broad support by the American public."
 
This was a key point for Kerger, who said that politicians on both sides of the aisle listen to their constituents and that she's confident that PBS has the support of the voters.
 
Kerger cautioned that were PBS to shift to even a partially ad-supported model, it would inevitably impact programming decisions, which she strongly implied would not behoove future fans of public broadcasting.
 
"I'm not in the same business as anyone else that will stand on this stage," said Kerger of the parade of network presidents who will be addressing the TCA over the next two weeks. "And if your bottom line is what is driving your business decisions, if your stockholders are on Wall Street, not on Main Street, you are going to make different decisions. That's all. And, for me, the best, most recent example is the different turn that the History Channel has taken. Many people on Capitol Hill would occasionally say, 'Well, you know, there are cable operations like History. Maybe could learn from them in terms of bringing in revenue.' But, you know, they found that the way to survive was to create a very different type of programming. And programming like 'Pawn Stars' and 'American Pickers' is not the same as 'American Experience' and Ken Burns. So I'm hopeful that we will be successful in making our case."
 
Romney, who won a commanding eight-vote victory at Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, is hardly the only Republican candidate who would have PBS in his crosshairs were he to win the nomination and the election in November. 
 
The former Massachusetts senator's closest Iowa rival, Rick Santorum, was a tepid supporter of the NEA in his early years, but he's also advocated cutting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, warning that "the 'Sesame Street' lobby" made such attempts difficult.
 
As a Congressman, Ron Paul spoke in favor of removing the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from the federal budget. 
 
Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, among other variably viable candidates, have also taken aim at CPB, with Gingrich famously calling public broadcasting "a sandbox for the rich" back in 1995.
Related Searches: TCA 2012, Television Critics Association Press Tour, Paula Kerger, Mitt Romney, pbs

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  • Default-avatar

    Billy

    Someone should have asked her how Pawn Stars is any different from Antiques Road Show...aside from being more entertaining that is.

    January 5, 2012 at 2:48PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      troopermsu Wow. If you can't see the difference, I'm not sure it could be explained to you.

      January 5, 2012 at 6:03PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Dwight Bobson

    Federal funding for PBS is not about money or the federal budget. It is about America's priorities and politics. If the right can have their unfunded wars and tax breaks for true wealthy, how much difference will it make to cut .000014% of the federal budget? Seriously!

    January 5, 2012 at 5:16PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    troopermsu

    The History Channel used to be full of quality programming but now it is pretty much mindless.

    January 5, 2012 at 6:03PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Jon Byington

    Mitt Romney was never a senator from Massachusetts. He ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994 and lost. He was, however, a governor of Massachusetts.

    January 6, 2012 at 9:09AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Robin

    I spent the last 6 days on vacation. One of my vacation "luxuries" is cable TV (we don't have it at home). So -- with 60+ channels to choose from, including History, Animal Planet, Discovery, and TLC, what did I end up watching? Nova on PBS.

    Discovery used to be space, science, and nature programs. I remember in the late 90's (when I had cable), shows that explored the oceans, or taught me about the creation of the universe. Now it's "Sons of Guns," "Moonshiners," and 5 different programs on fisherman. Don't get me wrong, I love The Deadliest Catch, and I like the one about the Alaskan airline, and I find Bear Gryllis somewhat entertaining. But really -- the network has turned into nothing but trashy reality shows. Substitute rednecks for pretentious housewives and you've got the same basic crap.

    There is no equivalant to PBS. NONE.

    January 6, 2012 at 4:02PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    KMitchell

    I'm sorry, but I have to laugh when Ms. Kerger blanches at PBS being an ad supported network. I have news for her, it already is. I watched the Austin City Limits - Coldplay Special on New Years Eve and what was at the beginning? About 5 minutes of various companies with that were "supporting" public television and the show specificially. This is already happening and in my mind is a more pure honest vision. Compete in the marketplace of ideas. There are so many other avenues available now to promote and distribute that the idea of public financing should be an anachromysm. I can empathize with the plight of the small town PBS stations and if that is truely an issue, that can be handled with a different funding structure at likely a much lower cost. But lets end the public financing of programing. Its better for everyone in the long run.

    January 6, 2012 at 6:17PM EST Reply to Comment

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At the dawn of the 21st Century, Daniel Fienberg came out to Los Angeles for grad school. He hasn't left. "The Fien Print" is a blog about television -- reviews, interviews, analysis -- but it's also about movies and the business of Hollywood. It probably won't be a blog about the Red Sox, though it might seem like that at times.

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