A conservative (capitalist) attack on PBS

I look at PBS as a great educational tool, a non-profit media outlet in a day of for-profit media. The network is uncorrupted by the for-profit capitalist structure, a structure that places advertising revenue above all, including programming and ethics. PBS was perhaps the largest media outlet that remained objective to the Bush administration in the run up to the Iraq war, challenging the president's claims and rhetoric on weapons of mass destruction, while the for-profit media outlets beat the drums of war. PBS is a wonderfully liberating tool, which is why it should be no surprise that the neo-conservative Bush administration is out to eliminate federal funding for the network by 2011, and has proposed slashing it's budget by half in the yet to be approved 2009 budget.

Bush has called for roughly $400 million in funding to be cut off from PBS starting in 2009. That would be a critical blow to a system whose focus is actually on media and proper journalism, not on the almighty dollar. For-profit media does not educate, it entertains, and journalism was always meant to be an educational tool first before entertainment. Is it any surprise that a neo-conservative would work to eliminate an educational tool in favor of profit?

We are dreadfully misinformed in this nation and that begins with for-profit media. Americans no longer think for themselves, the TV thinks for them, and tools like PBS are needed now more than ever, which is why it is greatly alarming to hear of such a harmful threat to such a valuable tool. This isn't the first time Bush has tried to faze PBS out of his budget, as in years past congress has stepped in to restore the funds which will hopefully happen again, but it's a pattern from the conservative right that needs to be confronted and openly discussed, that the basic tenants of democracy are being fazed out in favor of profit. These are the neo-conservatives, who recognize that an educated public is dangerous to their cause, that a liberating tool like PBS is no good for conservativism. Simply stated, this is why certain industries have no business being for-profit.