NPR: NATIONAL PUNK'D RADIO

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

Well, the wingnuts have again prevailed against the milquetoasts at NPR. As you’ve probably heard by now, the network’s head fundraiser, Ron Schiller, got punk’d by a notorious right-wing prankster and convicted felon named James O’Keefe who produces supposedly incriminating (but heavily edited) recordings of non-right-wing extremists saying shockingly non-right-wing-extremist things. In this case, Schiller was caught commenting (in private conversation to fake Muslims trying unsuccessfully to get him to take a $5 million donation) that Tea Partiers are gun-toting racists and that NPR would be “be better off in the long run without federal funding.” Now, Schiller is cleaning out his desk at NPR (his departure is supposedly unrelated to this non-scandal), and NPR has issued a typically craven statement that “We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for.”

The problem is, Schiller was essentially right. At least one branch of the Tea Party movement has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and, yes, in the long run, NPR would be better off without federal funding—not without the money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which right now is critical to the operations and programming of NPR, PBS and hundreds of member stations, but without the periodic political meddling that comes with that money.

The CPB, as intermediary between Congress and broadcasters, is supposed to be able to keep political interference at bay, but it has failed time after time. In 2003–05, the Bush Administration packed the CPB board not with mainstream conservatives, which would have been OK, but with wingnut lackeys headed by Kenneth Tomlinson. You can read that sad tale elsewhere, but before long, the organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting was describing the board as corrupt and Tomlinson ultimately had to quit in disgrace.

Then, of course, there are the periodic Congressional calls to eliminate the Corporation for Public Broadcasting entirely, because PBS and NPR are supposedly too liberal. Apparently, not actively promoting the conservative agenda means you’re liberal, even if (like NPR, the New York Times and most other mainstream media outlets) you passively enable the conservative agenda by, for example, acquiescing to pressure not to apply the word “torture” to actual acts of torture endorsed by the Administration, and generally running scared every time some wingnut wags his finger.

So what to do? I see three options.

First, go ahead and let Congress defund the CPB. Not desirable, but ultimately survivable for most of the system. I think in the spots we were running a couple of weeks ago, people were saying that 14 percent of Arizona Public Media’s budget comes from federal sources. Losing that 14 percent would hurt badly, but I think enough outraged audience members, underwriters and other funding sources would come forward to make up the loss. Other stations might not be so lucky; a few could die, and network programming could take a serious hit.

Second, and far more desirable, get Congress out of the business of periodically reauthorizing funding for the CPB (and, for that matter, the National Endowment for the Arts, another favorite target of extremists). Simply create a true endowment—a one-time huge award of cash that could be carefully invested to produce an annual return that would fund ongoing operations. In the current economic and political climate, this has zero chance of happening, but it’s certainly worth considering when things loosen up.

Third, divert all CPB money to support nothing but technology, engineering and non-programming operations. If money is used solely for buying and reparing gear, paying engineers and paying the electric bill, no federal dollars will be supporting content and the wingnuts won’t have any legitimate complaints (as if their current complaints were legitimate). For individual stations, the transition could be a little bumpy, but if all their technical costs were being covered by the CPB, they could reassign the money they’re now feeding the transmitter to programming. That, it seems to me, is the quickest and easiest solution to the fabricated problem.

CHANGING FOCUS FROM BIG BUDGETS TO SMALLER BUDGETS

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

The Arizona Board of Regents is meeting today in Tempe for a work session "on budget and related issues," according to the agenda.

The three university presidents will present to the board information on the budget reductions they have put into place for the last three years and discuss the expected impact of the proposed reductions for the next year.

That's based on Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's proposed budget calling for $170 million in cuts to the budgets for the three universities.

Included in today's discussions will be how the universities will handle tuition increases and at what levels for the coming year, assuming the governor's budget cuts.

Additionally, the regents and the presidents will discuss continued differentiation of the missions of the three universities, speeding up consolidations and other cost-saving measures.

We will focus Friday's Arizona Week on the topic, hoping to talk with at least one member of the Board of Regents and a University of Arizona dean with the academic and educational perspective. We will assemble a panel of expert journalists to analyze and comment on the issues.

Meantime, in this space, we will provide links to relevant information, including news reports from today's Board of Regents' work session.

HOVHANESS HUNDREDTH

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

Sorry I forgot to mention this earlier, but today (March 8) is the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Alan Hovhaness. Like Milhaud, Villa-Lobos and for that matter Vivaldi, he was perhaps too prolific for his own good, but, also like those other composers, at his best he had a highly distinctive sound (and one that went through a few transformations over the years, without ever becoming something unrecognizable as Hovhaness). We'll be playing a good bit of his music off and on through the day.

TWO DISTINCT WAYS OF LOOKING AT LEADERSHIP

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Republican leaders in the Arizona Senate may unveil their state budget proposal today, and early indications are it would have more drastic cuts in it than Gov. Jan Brewer has called for.

The Arizona Republic reported that on Sunday, saying there could be $600 million more in cuts than the $1 billion or so that Brewer has called for. Cuts would come in health services, the Department of Economic Security and all levels of public education. One lawmaker said the Department of Corrections would be off limits to cuts.

We will watch the developments closely. Look for more reports here and for development of the state budget as the topic for this week's program.

The other possibility as of now is the Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy, which opens its first class on Friday in Phoenix. A partnership of the Flinn Foundation of Phoenix and the Thomas R. Brown Foundations of Tucson, the academy will begin educating 25 Arizonans on the state's most important issues.

The Academy's Website describes its mission thusly: "The Arizona Center for Civic Leadership’s Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy is intended to help expand the cadre of future state leaders with the skills to address Arizona’s long-term issues. The Civic Leadership Academy complements existing local and regional leadership-training programs in Arizona, but is differentiated by its focus on state-level issues and leadership and emphasis on mentoring, plans, and follow-up support."

We plan to take a look at this innovative program, either this week or next, and we hope to talk with some of those who have been selected to take part.

AZ'S FRAGILE ECONOMY WILL BE HURT BY MEDICAID CUTS

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Arizona, more so than many states, relies on its vast Medicaid program as a bolster to the economy, in that the health insurance program provides coverage for workers in numerous small businesses, says an executive with Banner Health.

Dennis Dahlen, senior vice president and CFO of the state's largest health-care system, said in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week that the cuts Gov. Jan Brewer proposes in Medicaid will contribute to the "economic malaise the state is facing."

He said Banner might have to lay off employees and will consolidate services plus put off capital projects if the cuts go through.

Dahlen also said that the quality of health care will decline for many in the state, including those using Banner's 13 hospitals because of service consolidations and people losing primary-care physicians and thus having to rely on emergency rooms for care.

Medicaid, or as it is known in Arizona, ACCCHS, is a good deal for the state because it means Arizonans get $7 or so in federal money for every $2 or $3 in state-generated money, Dahlen said. Thus, he said, cutting state Medicaid funding as the governor and Republican legislators have proposed would have a "negative multiplier" of up to $4 in lost federal money for every $1 or so in cut state money.

Dahlen's interview will be part of Friday's Arizona Week on Medicaid cuts in the state, at 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV in Tucson and 10:30 p.m. MST on KAET-TV in Phoenix. It also may be viewed online at azweek.com.

DICHOTOMY

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

Here's something amusing: Technology writer Farhad Manjoo loves NPR, but hates its snobby listeners. What would he think about you?