Rick Steves: Don't defund PBS, NPR

Our government spends $430 million a year on public broadcasting ... less than the $500 million that it spends each year for military bands. With our current frenzy to cut the fat out of government, nothing is sacred — except, apparently, music for the military. This puts marching bands on solid financial footing, while public broadcasting is facing the budget ax.

I believe non-commercial media that respect the electorate's intelligence, assume an attention span, and can produce content with no regard to advertiser interests are important to the fabric of our society and to the strength of our democracy.

Of course, I am part of public broadcasting. I produce public radio and television shows that air nationwide. I fund my own shows, then try to get underwriting from corporations. My underwriters support my work but do not dictate content. This allows me to introduce my viewers and listeners to the world as it is, rather than a version of the world shaped by the need to sell something.

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I can take TV viewers inside Iran to talk with everyday people, or to the Swiss Alps to celebrate Christmas, without wondering, "Will this offend advertisers?" On the radio, I can talk to Portuguese officials about innovative drug policies, or to a gay activist in Lebanon, without sheltering our audience from ideas that might test their comfort zones.

But there's an even greater value of public broadcasting. It subsidizes news that is less exciting, but more insightful — produced by journalists rather than entertainers, pursuing the truth rather than advertising. Public television makes possible non-commercial children's programming that is not shaped by people who sell our kids toys. And public broadcasting keeps culture alive even when it is not a commercial hit. Rather than lowering our society's intellectual bar, it challenges us to be engaged. Public broadcasting inspires America to be smart.

Some critics claim that public broadcasting has a "liberal bias," singling out a few specific personalities as examples. And, just as mainstream media sources have strong personal voices in one direction or another, a select few public broadcasters have been known to wear their opinions on their sleeve. But the vast majority of public broadcasting — from Nova and Nature, to Car Talk and Sesame Street— has no clear-cut agenda; it's simply thoughtful, well-produced content.

Other critics say, "Leave it to the marketplace." But that's just the point: Government-subsidized broadcasting supports media that are independent of the marketplace — and our society needs that for its own good.

Our society spends one-2,000th of a trillion dollars on providing the seed funds to make non-commercial broadcasting possible in our otherwise very commercial world. Public broadcasting gets the rest of its funding from its audience through contributions, and from corporate citizens through underwriting. Government funding is only about a tenth of what it takes to run public broadcasting in our country, but it enables this vital slice of our culture to exist. Does the American public understand the cost to our society of sacrificing public broadcasting (to save less than $1.50 per citizen each year) in the name of fiscal restraint?

I believe cutting government funding for public broadcasting would result in huge costs to our society — even to people who find PBS or NPR threatening and annoying. You can make a very good case that, considering the complex and unprecedented challenges facing our nation today, public broadcasting's trademark brand of quality independent journalism are actually important to our national security interests. Yes, marching bands can stir our troops to valor. But shouldn't we find the resources, even in challenging economic times, to stir our minds to action as well?

Rick Steves is the host and producer of Rick Steves' Europe on public television and Travel with Rick Steves on public radio.