PBS hit back at Mitt Romney on Thursday after the Republican contender vowed to end federal funding for the US public television network if he wins the White House.
In a statement, PBS — which airs such programming as “Downton Abbey” and “Sesame Street” without commercials — said it was “very disappointed” by Romney’s threat, made during his debate with President Barack Obama.
“Governor Romney does not understand the value the American people place on public broadcasting and the outstanding return on investment the system delivers to our nation,” it said.
Romney turned on PBS — whose veteran news anchor Jim Lehrer moderated Wednesday’s debate — as he spelled out how he intended to slash the US government’s trillion-dollar deficit.
“I like PBS. I like Big Bird,” said Romney, dropping the name of the leggy yellow character who teaches the alphabet on “Sesame Street,” (but) “I’m sorry, Jim. I’m gonna stop the subsidy to PBS.”
PBS said the “federal investment” in public broadcasting equals only “about one one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget.”
It gave no dollar figure, but according to other sources, PBS received $445.5 million from Washington this year. That compares to $20 billion in subsidies to US farmers and $707.5 billion for the US military.
“Elimination of funding would have virtually no impact on the nation’s debt, yet the loss to the American public would be devastating,” it said.
PBS and its member stations, like their public radio counterparts, also get revenue from tax-deductible contributions from viewers, collected during frequent on-air fundraising drives.
While fans applaud its higher brow commercial-free content, some of which is imported from British sources like the BBC, hardcore conservatives regard public broadcasting as a Trojan horse for liberal values.
Romney’s reference to Big Bird triggered a torrent of sarcastic remarks on Twitter, while a picture of the goofy character — sitting on a brownstone stoop with a cardboard “Will work for food” sign — went viral on the Internet.
PBS hits back at Romney over funding threat
