Lee Bollinger: Socialist Moonbat of the Week

Lee is the president of Columbia University. His accomplishments include support of racist 'affirmative action' programs at the University of Michigan. Now get a load of what he wants to do to journalism in the USA (MAJOR BARF ALERT):

Both the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are undertaking studies of ways to ensure the steep economic decline faced by newspapers and broadcast news does not deprive Americans of the essential information they need as citizens. One idea under consideration is enhanced public funding for journalism

...the broadcast news industry was deliberately designed to have private owners operating within an elaborate system of public regulation, including requirements that stations cover public issues and expand the range of voices that could be heard. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld this system in the 1969 Red Lion decision as constitutional, even though it would have been entirely possible to limit government involvement simply to auctioning off the airwaves and letting the market dictate the news. In the 1960s, our network of public broadcasting was launched with direct public grants and a mission to produce high quality journalism free of government propaganda or censorship.

Lee you are fucking hilarious. The broadcast news (ABC, CBS, and NBC) report with an extreme leftwing slant. This was the result of the FCC-enforced oligopoly during the pre-cable, pre-satellite era. All markets were limited to stations that carried the three alphabet networks, plus an independent station or two.

Likewise, PBS is not high quality, but has a similar leftist slant.

But I'm not surprised that you approve of the reporting of the broadcast networks plus PBS, and I'm sure you are appalled by Fox, talk radio, and much of the internet.

Ironically, we already depend to some extent on publicly funded foreign news media for much of our international news—especially through broadcasts of the BBC and BBC World Service on PBS and NPR. Such news comes to us courtesy of British citizens who pay a TV license fee to support the BBC and taxes to support the World Service. The reliable public funding structure, as well as a set of professional norms that protect editorial freedom, has yielded a highly respected and globally powerful journalistic institution.

So what is this 'editorial freedom' the journalists at the BBC possess? Is it the freedom to be a leftist political hack while calling yourself a journalist? My counterparts in the UK find the BBC to be every bit as biased towards the left as are ABC and CBS in the USA.

Now here's the best part. Lee tries to claim government- funded academic research is 'independent'

There are examples of other institutions in the U.S. where state support does not translate into official control. The most compelling are our public universities and our federal programs for dispensing billions of dollars annually for research. Those of us in public and private research universities care every bit as much about academic freedom as journalists care about a free press.
Yet—through a carefully designed system with peer review of grant-making, a strong culture of independence, and the protections afforded by the First Amendment—there have been strikingly few instances of government abuse. Indeed, the most problematic funding issues in academic research come from alliances with the corporate sector. This reinforces the point that all media systems, whether advertiser-based or governmental, come with potential editorial risks

Really, Lee? You mean like that great 'independent' research being conducted by the likes of Michael Mann and Keith Briffa on the subject of global warming? Yeah, they're getting lots of great government funding, as long as it supports the notion that human CO2 emissions are causing atmospheric warming and that government controls are necessary. The fact that Mann and Briffa and others are conducting very questionable research doesn't seem to matter. Most scientists who do not support the global warming mythology are getting little or no government funding.

Above all, Lee, what about those of us who don't care to pay taxes to support propaganda in favor of your stupid, racist political views? We don't stick a gun in your face and tell you to support our views. Please give us the same courtesy.