Oregon Dem defends public broadcasting

Blumenauer argued doing so would adversely impact local news
stations.

“The comments made by Ron Schiller, a fundraiser at NPR, were foolish and indefensible. They don’t reflect in any way the opinions of the many dedicated journalists who work at NPR,” he said.

“Yet with 89 percent of federal public broadcasting dollars going directly to local stations, the fact of the matter is that NPR is not the most important part of the public broadcasting debate.”

Blumenauer said those local stations are increasingly important due to the decline of traditional news outlets such as newspapers, which have been forced to shut down or lay off journalists in recent years, leaving gaps in their coverage.

“Public broadcasting is filling the gap, bringing critical news and information to communities across the country,” Blumenauer said.

“What’s more, public broadcasting stations are the only source of free programming that educates our children, rather than the many commercial stations simply trying to sell them products.”

NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller was reportedly forced out on Wednesday by the board following the incident with Ron Schiller (no relation) and the October firing of news analyst Juan Williams, which also lead to the resignation of a top NPR news executive.