Since Thursday afternoon, 370,018 of us have called on Congress to stop President Bush's budget cuts and save NPR and PBS. 370,000 of us in just 36 hours!

Can you help make it half a million signatures? Here's what the petition says: "Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling." Just click here to add your name: (link removed)

Every additional signer will mean more pressure on Congress to block this cut and make sure this kind of partisan meddling never happens again. President Bush cannot be allowed to slash strong journalism and shows like "Sesame Street."

We've won this fight before. Together, we can make sure we never have to confront this issue again.

Thanks,

–Noah, Joan, Carrie, Marika and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Saturday, February 10th, 2007

P.S. Here's the email we sent on Thursday that lays out the whole situation:

"Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling."

Clicking here will add your name:

Dear MoveOn member,

George W. Bush is trying—yet again—to slash funding for NPR and PBS. This week, Bush proposed a new budget with devastating cuts to public broadcasting.¹ "Sesame Street" and other ad-free kids' shows are under the knife. So is the independent journalism our country needs.

Enough is enough. We've fought this fight before and won—but we can't afford the risk anymore. With the new Congress, we can make sure this never happens again. We need Congress to insulate NPR and PBS from the political winds.

We can make it happen if enough of us sign this petition: "Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling." Clicking here will add your name to the petition: (link removed)

After you sign, please forward this email to your friends, family, and co-workers to keep this campaign going. We'll deliver the petition to members of Congress as they consider Bush's budget—offering a public counterpoint to this dangerous attack.

Congress can protect NPR and PBS from future cuts. The long-term solution to save public radio and TV is to:

fully restore this year's funding
guarantee a permanent funding stream free from political pressure
reform how the money is spent and keep partisan appointees from pushing a political bias

Bush's budget would cut federal funds for public broadcasting by nearly 25%.¹ According to PBS, the cuts "could mean the end of our ability to support some of the most treasured educational children's series" like "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and "Arthur."²

As telecommunications chair Rep. Ed Markey said, "In a 24-7 television world with content often inappropriate for young children, the public broadcasting system represents an oasis of quality, child-oriented educational programming. We owe America's children and their parents this free, over-the-air resource."¹

The cuts could also decimate one of the last remaining sources of watchdog reporting on TV—continuing the partisan war on journalism led by the ex-chair of public broadcasting, Ken Tomlinson.³ More people trust public broadcasting than any corporate news media.⁴ President Bush would rather undermine our free press than face reporters who are asking tough questions.

Let's put an end to the constant threats to NPR and PBS. Let's ask Congress to guarantee funding and stop partisan meddling. Clicking here will add your name to the petition: (link removed)

Thank you for all you do.

–Noah, Marika, Eli, Adam G. and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Thursday, February 8th, 2007