Action Alert!
Stop Religious Programming on PBS-owned Networks!
July 7, 2009
Please help the Freedom From Religion Foundation raise awareness of and protest the recent PBS board decision to continue religious programming on its member stations. Send a clear message to PBS that the public objects to member stations airing devotional broadcasts.
A recent vote at the Public Broadcasting Service headquarters will allow five member stations to continue carrying religious programming despite the 1985 PBS bylaws, which state that programs must be "noncommercial, nonpartisan and nonsectarian." This recent vote only prohibits new religious programs from airing. However, the PBS board also decided to allow PBS digital TV channels and websites to broadcast religious programming as long as they do not also air PBS programs or display the PBS brand identification. This will potentially allow PBS stations to lease underutilized television stations to religious broadcasters.
Contact
Paula KergerPBS President & Chief Executive Officer
Public Broadcasting Service
2100 Crystal Drive
Arlington, VA 22202
Click For Email Form
Michael Getler
PBS Ombudsman
Voice: (703) 739-5290
More Background Information
Read Washington Post Coveragehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061603201.html
Read PBS Ombudsman Editorial
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2009/06/a_nonsectarian_decision_mostly_1.html
Please send a succinct message expressing your objection to these recent PBS board decisions. Concentrate on one or two major points, and sign your name and address. Please write as an individual, not as someone responding to this action alert. (Do not forward our action alert page to the target!) We are pleased to receive "blind" duplicates of your letters or responses by email: bgutsch@ffrf.org, Freedom From Religion Foundation.