More on Conflicts of Interest When Philanthropists Sponsor the News
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| $3.5 million |
Yesterday this blog covered the story by David Sirota about the Public Broadcasting Service’s solicitation of a grant of $3.5 million from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to pay for a series, The Pension Peril, that represents the point of view of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. PBS has returned the money and said the series, which had already begun airing, will go on hiatus.
David Sirota followed up his original story with more here on issues of philanthropic sponsorship of programming at PBS.
Thanks to Diane Ravitch’s blog for bringing attention to Sirota’s important articles.
PBS’s ombudsman comments here.
Attacks on public pensions are central to the corporate school deform agenda to lower salaries and reduce due process for teachers. This is all part of the attack on teachers unions. After all, if we economize by paying teachers less, have an easier time getting rid of those expensive older teachers, and deny teachers things like fringe benefits including pensions, we can all pay less taxes.
Make no mistake, this is central to the attack on the price we pay for being the civilized society we like to believe we are.