NH Delegation Differs on Cuts to CPB

The House appropriations committee has approved a bill that includes a 100 million dollar reduction in funding for public broadcasting for next year starting in October.

The move follows comments by the CPB's Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson who criticized public TV news shows as biased towards the left side of the political spectrum.

New Hampshire 2nd District Representative Charlie Bass has written a letter to the committee chairman asking for full funding to be restored.

But he says he doesn't feel that public broadcasting is being targeted for political reasons.

"I don't believe the intent of the subcommittee chair has to do with public radio content or anything like that. it really has to do with the fact that he's got one of the toughest budgets, labor, health and human services and he's got to make tough choices"

But the subcommittee chairman's choices were validated when the full committee approved the cut on Thursday.

Meanwhile, funding for Voice of America is expected to increase by fourteen percent - due to President Bush's requests in several different spending bills.

Voice of America produces radio and TV news for international audiences, focusing on areas where the US has a strategic political interest.

Much of the new funding will be geared towards broadcasting in Islamic countries.

The House proposed cuts will be folded into an appropriations bill that could hit the floor of the House next week.

There will likely be an amendment offered to restore funding.

First district Congressman Jeb Bradley says he'll have to see what other programs are at stake, such as special education and scientific research, before he decides how to vote.

"if there's a move to look at the corporation for public broadcast, i would have to look at that and weigh it against different priorities"

While neither of New Hampshire's House members feel that Congress perceives a liberal slant in public radio and television, Senator John Sununu feels differently.

Sununu says public broadcasters should lose federal funding if they've abandoned their mission of providing fair and balanced information.

"nothing wrong with having a point of you on the left or on the right, we certainly don't want one flavor, one approach right down the middle on every singel program that appears on public broadcasting or anywhere else, but that's something that congress should look at because we passed the law that authorized public broadcasting in the first place"

Senator Judd Gregg was unavailable for comment.

Whatever the motivation of Congress, stations are getting nervous.

Threats of funding cuts are nothing new. Back in nineteen ninety five, then House Speaker Newt Gingrich wanted to eliminate funding for CPB.

But the provision never became law.

And Congressman Charlie Bass says he's confident that the Senate will put some of the money back into the appropriations bill.

But New Hampshire Public Radio General Manager Mark Handley says a compromise could still mean significant losses for public broadcasting.

Handley says NHPR receives only 7% of its budget from the CPB, but that loss could translate to a hundred and forty thousand dollars a year

Cut about loss of jobs…two maybe three people could lose their jobs if the cuts go thru.

New Hampshire public television is also anticipating a large cut. - About Ten percent of their ten million dollar budget comes from the corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The majority of public broadcasting money doesn't come from the federal government - it comes from "viewers and listeners like you". If these cuts to federal funding do become law, New Hampshire public radio and television may have to rely even more heavily on their members.

For NHPR News, I'm Julie Donnelly in Washington.