When presidents of government-funded broadcasting are making more than the president of the United States, it's time to get the government out of public broadcasting.
While executives at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are raking in massive salaries, the organizations are participating in an aggressive lobbying effort to prevent Congress from saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year by cutting their subsidies. The so-called commercial free public airwaves have been filled with pleas for taxpayer cash. The Association of Public Television Stations has hired lobbyists to fight the cuts. Hundreds of taxpayer-supported TV, radio and Web outlets have partnered with an advocacy campaign to facilitate emails and phone calls to Capitol Hill for the purpose of telling members of Congress, "Public broadcasting funding is too important to eliminate!"
PBS President Paula Kerger even recorded a personal television appeal that told viewers exactly how to contact members of Congress in order to "let your representative know how you feel about the elimination of funding for public broadcasting." But if PBS can pay Ms. Kerger $632,233 in annual compensation—as reported on the 990 tax forms all nonprofits are required to file—surely it can operate without tax dollars.
The executives at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes the taxpayer money allocated for public broadcasting to other stations, are also generously compensated. According to CPB's 2009 tax forms, President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison received $298,884 in reportable compensation and another $70,630 in other compensation from the organization and related organizations that year. That's practically a pittance compared to Kevin Klose, president emeritus of NPR, who received more than $1.2 million in compensation, according to the tax forms the nonprofit filed in 2009.
Today's media landscape is a thriving one with few barriers to entry and many competitors, unlike when CPB was created in 1967. In 2011, Americans have thousands of news, entertainment and educational programs to choose from that are available on countless television, radio and Web outlets.Read more here.
“The Fighting Illini is not a tourney team—I don’t care.”Gottlieb reiterated he’d been pulled over, and the interviewer continued his indifference as he repeated to ask about Illinois’ tournament qualifications multiple times. The ESPN announcer answered the question as the police officer approached his car (Illinois is, apparently, a tournament-worthy team) before leaving his bluetooth earpiece on so listeners could hear the glorious conversation with the cop.
 |
| Peoria Journal-Star Photo |
 |
| DesMoines Register photo |
 |
| Illustration by Matt Mahurin |
 |
| Chicago Tribune |
 |
| Bardella |
“Though limited, these actions were highly inappropriate, a basic breach of trust with the reporters it was his job to assist, and inconsistent with established communications office policies. As a consequence, his employment has been terminated.”Despite Issa’s swift firing of Bardella, the scandal could prove damaging, since the congressman is the Republicans’ chief watchdog, overseeing a committee that regularly handles high-profile Congressional investigations.
“TheAlternativePress.com was cash-flow positive in year one. We were profitable in year two. We’re the only profitable hyperlocal represented on this panel tonight.”In 2008, Shapiro left his law practice in New York City to start TheAlternativePress.com with his wife in order to become more active in their community of New Providence, NJ, and to spend more time with his family during their son’s illness and recovery. Today, according to Shapiro, TheAlternativePress.com reaches more than 400,000 unique users per year.
“Could not follow user: You have been blocked from following this account at the request of the user.”
It seems like Piers Morgan has been on CNN for years already, with the amount of attention he has garnered. From massive promotion at launch to early high-profile chats with Oprah and Howard Stern to constant attention to his up-and-down ratings, Larry King’s replacement has been no stranger to the press.
And that’s exactly how he likes it. With his numbers already boosting CNN’s recent performance in the 9 p.m. ET time slot but still trailing his competition, Morgan will use anything he can (care for a Twitter war, anyone?) to draw attention—and viewers—to his show.
But while he often leads with his chin on CNN or NBC’S America’s Got Talent, sitting in his Beverly Hills hotel residence he is more thoughtful and respectful than those who don’t know him may expect. And while he is very up-front about the challenges he has ahead, he is also quick to fire back at the critics who pan everything from his numbers to his neck (seriously).
In a wide-ranging interview with B&C Editor-in-Chief Ben Grossman, Morgan talked about what is working and not working so far, his rivals, and his plans for Rupert Murdoch.
Nobody needs to hold any bake sales for the “Two and a Half Men” star, who before the implosion earned well over $1 million an episode for the CBS sitcom. Still, he chose an unlikely medium to unleash his bizarre tirades against the producers of his show — a medium painfully ill-equipped, as it turned out, to deal with a fast-moving story outside its sweet spot in a newsy way.
Sheen began his peculiar media tour on Dan Patrick’s radio show (which is simulcast on FOX Sports), where he talked as much about baseball as his sobriety. The actor followed that up with Alex Jones — a syndicated and online host whose conspiracy theories include an active role in the 9/11 Truth Movement, of which Sheen is also an advocate. Finally, the actor closed the week by calling “The Loose Cannons” on FOX Sports Radio’s Los Angeles flagship KLAC-AM (570), where co-host Pat O’Brien gently suckled the pampered star like a newborn colt.
Throughout Sheen’s stream-of-consciousness rants, none of these hosts ever really pressed him regarding his eccentric behavior, which has included trashing a New York hotel room, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor after being charged with assaulting his wife and being hospitalized with abdominal pains in January after a party the website TMZ described as involving “a briefcase full of cocaine.” Nor was he asked about his use of what the Anti-Defamation League saw as an anti-Semitic inference in trashing his show's producer, Chuck Lorre.
The bottom line is, despite his “They picked a fight with the wrong guy” bravado, Sheen has managed to achieve the nearly impossible — going from coddled, protected star to nearly radioactive in Hollywood. Sure, there will be jobs for him, but if “Men” completely fizzles out because of his tantrums — costing the network and studio millions, not to mention the rest of the cast and crew their jobs — it’s likely goodbye, top-rated network sitcom; hello, “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew.”
