Ken Burns Sticks Up for Public Media

In a release sent out today, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is speaking out in support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in the face of proposed Congressional budget cuts. "The proposed elimination of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will deny the American people access to news and information and, just as importantly, deny our children access to the best educational and science programs at a time when studies suggest such knowledge is at its lowest." Burns' great documentaries regularly appear on PBS. His full statement after the jump: “I understand and respect the difficult decisions Congress must make related to the budget in these trying times," the filmmaker Ken Burns said today. "However, in times of hardship, with difficult decisions at home and abroad, and when traditional journalism institutions are collapsing and electronic news divisions are increasingly all talk or all entertainment, it is critical that we have an in-depth and independent media, along with news, cultural and educational programming, that allow us to flourish as a people. The proposed elimination of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will deny the American people access to news and information and, just as importantly, deny our children access to the best educational and science programs at a time when studies suggest such knowledge is at its lowest. “This is always described as a left-right divide. But the myriad services of public broadcasting are enjoyed in every state of the Union regardless of political persuasion. Public television is particularly a crucial link in on-going adult education, something we desperately need as we retrain those without jobs. And education of the air programming, critical services only available on public stations, augment and supplement studies in schools from Oklahoma to Alaska, West Virginia to Arkansas. “Public media delivers these services and does so in a non-partisan, fair, and, most importantly, in-depth fashion. We should not, at this time or any time, forfeit our commitment to the kind of journalism, public affairs, cultural and educational programming that can only be found on public radio and television."

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Ken Burns Sticks Up for Public Media

Matthew Fleischer

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Matthew Fleischer