#savebigbird

[carycochrane]

Save Big Bird! #savebigbird #supportthearts #pbs #bigbird #sesamestreet #resist @carycochrane

[uclaradio]

Public Media Is More Than Just #SaveBigBird

Written By: Alex Ivanova

Post Date: 3/24/17

I fully attribute my English fluency to Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the various programs that aired on PBS when I was a child. Growing up in a Russian-speaking household, television was my only real exposure to the English language until I started school. Ultimately, public broadcasting meant being able to assimilate into the culture and language of this country, even if my household was of a different one.

For many children like me, PBS and other local public stations were especially influential to our education. A major facet of public media is its commitment to early learning, as seen with the Ready to Learn initiative in the early 1990s, which was later reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, and renewed in 2010 for another five years. This partnership between the U.S. Department of Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and countless other public media sources meant that “high need” children (children of immigrants, children with low access to educational resources, low-income families, disadvantaged minorities, etc.) would have access to content to expand their math and literacy skills

Literacy in a nation is more than just a positive - it is necessary and vital to a nation’s economic stability. A one percent increase in literacy scores ultimately results in an eventual two and a half percent rise in labor productivity, and a one and a half percent rise in GDP per person (C.D. Howe Institute). Despite this, in 2015, only 34-percent of  eighth grade students performed at or above the proficient level, declining two percent from 2013 (National Assessment of Educational Progress).

President Trump recently proposed massive budget cuts for our domestic programs— namely cutting agency funds for the arts, humanities, and public media. White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney defended the proposal, saying, “Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs? The answer was no. We can ask them to pay for defense and we will, but we can't ask them to continue to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.” Yet public media only costs approximately $1.35 per citizen, per year, according to CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison.

The benefits of public broadcasting certainly outweigh whatever potential benefits can result from allocating those funds to increasing the defense budget yet again. Ultimately it is only a disservice to educating our children and providing information to all citizens, both in urban, rural, and disadvantaged communities. The benefits of the Ready to Learn Initiative are not unfounded. Over a fourth of the money funding the initiative went to researching its success, and ultimately, the results supported that public programming increased literacy skills when comparing a group of at-risk students who viewed various PBS shows, and control groups of students who did not.

Furthermore, the majority of viewers were children from economically disadvantaged families, the majority of which were making less than $50,000 a year. In a recent Washington Post publication entitled, “Public Broadcasting Shouldn’t Get a Handout from Taxpayers Anymore,” Howard Husock claims that minorities can “find what they are looking for” on private media and major cable outlets, claiming that “public media today looks far too much like a niche programming service for a left-leaning, upmarket urban constituency.” In some ways, his article is valid. Public media often does serve a niche market, with many viewers moving towards the private media industry to find programs that cater directly to them. It is important for public media to broaden its focus now more than ever when competing with other forms of media, especially as the internet becomes more and more influential on consumer tastes. We cannot, however, expect this to be a reality if we diminish public media’s already low funds exponentially by defunding them entirely.

Trump’s call to zero-out public media funding is frightening, especially to the vast amounts of disadvantaged communities who depend on it. However, it also serves as a wake-up call to public media outlets to adapt to growing demands as competition with private markets increases, and they cannot depend simply on their role as a public service to convince a conservative government to allocate funding to them.

[theconservativemonster-blog]

Chelsea Clinton Ignores UK Terror Attack, Wishes Big Bird 'Happy Birthday'

Chelsea Clinton Ignores UK Terror Attack, Wishes Big Bird ‘Happy Birthday’

Conservative News Update: Steve Cooper Thedailypotus.com #HappyBirthdayBigBird #SaveBigBird https://t.co/nUXEj1w13J — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) March 22, 2017 The Truth is Worth $5 per Month – SUBSCRIBE to The Daily POTUS https://www.paypal.me/conservativemonster

[redfishruefish]

#saveBigBird

[kjosy]

Strib Steve Sack cartoon #PBS #DefenseBudget #Trump #SaveBigBird via Facebook http://ift.tt/2nxc9O5

[transshoeformers-blog-blog]

#highlyflamable #sneakerheadcult #youCOPthesetheCOPDwillbewatchinyou #saveBIGBIRD

[annierader]

I'm #thankful Mittens didn't take away this moment from me. #BigBird #SesameStreet #SaveBigBird

[revolutionary-mindset]

Heh heh heh #UnfitMitt #SaveBigBird

[jromeson]

Lol #savebigbird #election2012

[cassiroll-blog]

My 9 year old sister Skya becomes a political activist at a young age by creating her first petition. #savebigbird #election2012 #getitskya

[hotmamavida]

F u Mitt...lmmfao #saveBigBird #SesameStLive #birthdayboy

[sweat-equity]

Guess who showed up at the debates last night #savebigbird (Taken with Instagram)

[revolutionary-mindset]

#UnfitMitt #BindersFullOfWomen #SaveBigBird

[rue52]

#savebigbird & eat crépes (Taken with Instagram)

[jaavviis-mundo]

Google, "completely wrong" on Images. DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER ONLINE! #teamobama #election2012 #savebigbird #barackobama (Taken with Instagram)