Online NewsHour: Public Broadcasting Investigation -- July 20, 1999



	REP. CHRISTOPHER COX (R-CA)

July 20, 1999

Statement of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Production.

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Government-funded mass media is a dangerous admixture. It requires an exception to our general rule that free expression in a free society will be hindered if it is influenced by government. It requires a presumption that the marketplace of ideas will be devoid of some very important commodity unless government steps in to fill the void. In the Information Age, that presumption is increasingly subject to question.

But if one accepts it, and if we make an exception to the rule against government involvement in the content of mass media in America, then very sturdy firewalls are needed to prevent politics from infecting programming content. The fact that taxpayer-funded public television and radio are sharing their donor lists with the Democratic National Committee, Zero Population Growth, and other political organizations shows those firewalls don't exist.

Today's Washington Post editorial page appropriately calls this list-sharing "stupidity." The New York Times calls it "an extraordinary display of carelessness." The Boston Globe notes it appears to violate public television's tax-exempt status.

Mr. Chairman, I'd also like to second your request for the General Accounting Office to fully examine these matters. This will help us get to the bottom of these matters.

It is ironic that today's hearing comes on the heels of our hearing just last week on how best to protect consumer privacy in the information age. At that hearing, members on both sides of the aisle-Republican and Democrat-talked about how important it is for enterprises that collect personal information to accurately inform consumers about whether, and with whom, they will share this information. We heard testimony from the members of the Federal Trade Commission that there should be consequences for enterprises that fail to live up to sound privacy policies.

WGBH, the well-known PBS affiliate in Boston, actually assured its consumers that it had an official station policy against sharing its members' names, addresses, and other information with partisan political groups. But this policy, as was recently discovered, was apparently just lip-service. We learned this in the case of Sam Black, a 4-year old boy.

Sam is a fan of the "Barney and Friends" television show, which airs in his hometown of Wellesley on WGBH. Sam's mother, Jody Black, sent WGBH a $40 check to thank them for their children's programming. She included Sam's name with the donation. Later, 4-year-old Sam Black received a fundraising letter from the Democratic National Committee, seeking his financial help in getting Democrats elected to office.

Initially, WGBH attempted to suggest this was an inadvertent violation, a "misunderstanding." The station's vice president for communications blamed it on a new employee. But once the Boston papers began to dig deeper, it became clear that this practice-selling names, addresses, and other personal information-was in fact sanctioned by the executives at the station.

What did the Corporation for Public Broadcasting do when it learned of these reports in early May? To quote from an editorial in today's New York Times: "Amazingly, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes Federal money to stations, did nothing."

Since then, the media-not CPB, not taxpayer-supported media, but First Amendment-supported media-have discovered that this practice of selling or swapping names, addresses, and other personal information with Democrat fundraisers is far more widespread.

In San Francisco, KQED admitted to sharing its membership lists with the campaign to re-elect Senator Barbara Boxer. They also shared it with the Democrat National Committee. Senator Boxer's office has in fact confirmed using the list for fundraising purposes.

"Organizations that depend partly on public money to survive should not play politics," the New York Times rightly states. And, the Times add, this ought to be a "simple and self-evident rule." We should hold public broadcasters accountable to this rule. And we should insist that CPB hold its own member stations fully accountable.