Take the Governor's veto message for the 2009-10 state budget. A group has spring up on Facebook called Save South Carolina ETV. That's the state's education/PBS radio/TV operation.
The Facebook site says the governor vetoed $5.2m- 52% of the entity's funding. A detailed explanation of its value training and educating teachers, law enforcement officers, students, and others follows. Hundreds of comments have been made. I couldn't find a one that wasn't completely uncritical, nor anything describing the governor's rationale for the veto. All I need to know from that page is that it's gonna be bad, Andy, reallly baaad....
This site's been consistently critical of ETV for several years. To read that there's absolutely nothing about it that should be changed made me all the more curious to see what the governor had in mind.
So I went to the Governor's Office website. There's a press release, with a statement by Sanford about the cuts, but no link to the actual veto message.
So I went to the SC House of Representatives "newly redesigned" website, where searching is supposed to be easier for the citizenry.
No search results there.
Started doing a news search among the papers. The ones owned by the big and shrinking conglomerates had stories, but no link to the budget message.
Finally, I found a Post & Courier story with a PDF link to the thirty-page budget message.
Sanford's rationale is a defensible one- most of ETV's programming activities don't line up very well with the core functions of state government. He argues there are federal and private funds sufficient to enable ETV's K-12 educational programming to continue.
There's a lot of places where the governor just says to agencies, go somewhere else to find the money (often to the federal government, where people like him, when he served, and his colleagues there today, try to zero out the Corporation for Public Broadcasting every federal budget cycle.)
That's a defensible position. ETV presents two faces to the state: the educational and training programs it offers- which the general public doesn't see- and the canned TV and radio programming it buys and slaps on the air for the general public in between their interminable fundraising campaigns on the air, and their endless radio begging for used cars and death bequests from elderly listeners.
Its homegrown programming is sporadic, its news operations all but nonexistent.
Maybe it is time to cut it back to its original function. There's plenty of other PBS outlets to watch Lawrence Welk and quarter century old Britcoms on. There's a lot of really informative programming available out there that never makes it on ETV because the threshold of "liberal agenda" charges here is so low. Maybe having to scratch harder for support would encourage creative ideas for local, cheaper programming on a level somewhat above The Gardener's Hee-Haw, Making It Grow.
Now if somebody started a Facebook page called "Reform South Carolina ETV," I'll be it'd get some more thoughtful discussion than wailing, wringing of hands, and slagging off the governor.
The "interminable fundraising campaigns" and "endless radio begging" ARE the "somewhere else" to find the money.
ReplyDeleteWHERE are the "plenty of other PBS outlets" for such things as "NOVA," "Frontline," "Newshour," and so on if one doesn't live on the border of NC or GA? You're letting your personal pique get in the way of realizing what this would mean to a broader population.
The news operations are all but nonexistent by design. They can't be objective or probing (i.e. worthwhile) without pissing off the Legislature.