I know this headline may be too doom and gloom for many of you weaned on Big Bird and friends, but the news today that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s budget may be cut from $400 to $300 million will no doubt have PBS supporters up in arms. “Sesame Street” and other PBS children’s programs are directly affected. Is it a partisan effort to ferret out (sorry, Elmo) what many believe to be a “liberal” bias in PBS programming? With not one, but two ombudsman identified to assess this, we’ll find out — hopefully in less time than it took the Justice Dept. to deduce that the FBI screwed up in its pre-9/11 duties to protect our country. But I digress.
Back to Elmo. I can’t exactly tell you what behind-the-scenes maneuvering will take place to restore the anticipated loss in funding. Suffice to say, however, the lobbying on the Hill has already started.