[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 13 (Monday, January 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1366-S1367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  REGARDING PUBLIC TELEVISION FUNDING

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I am deeply concerned about the statements 
made by Bell Atlantic and others concerning the so-called privatization 
of public broadcasting. In my view, the so-called privatization of 
public broadcasting could bring an end to the system of public 
broadcasting as we know it. While this may be the goal of certain 
legislators, this is not what the American people want. Three recent 
polls have concluded that the overwhelming majority of Americans 
support continued funding for public broadcasting.
  I have always supported efforts to make public broadcasting more 
efficient and less costly. In the last Congress, I introduced a bill 
calling for a freeze in the authorized levels of funding for public 
broadcasting. Placing public broadcasting in the hands of private, 
corporate entities, however, would simply turn public broadcasting into 
more of the same advertising-driven, profit-motivated commercial 
broadcasting that we have today. Americans already receive too much 
violence and profanity on the commercial broadcast stations. What 
America needs is more educational programming, more children's 
programming, more family-oriented programming. This is what public 
broadcasting provides.
  There is no substitute for the programming provided by public 
broadcasting today. Cable television is received by only 60 percent of 
Americans, while public broadcasting reaches 98 percent of the American 
public. Almost twice as many children watch public television than 
watch similar programs on cable.
  Congress spends only $1 per American per year on public broadcasting. 
This is a small price to pay for the education of our Nation's children 
and adults.

[[Page S1367]]

                      MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT

  Messages from the President of the United States were communicated to 
the Senate by Mr. Thomas, one of his secretaries.

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