June 19, 2000  

Dear Colleague:

The vast majority of Americans believe EDUCATION should be among the nation’s top priorities. Yet this week the Republican leadership plans to bring up a bill that would actually ABOLISH the educational requirement for public television programs.

H.R. 4201, the "Noncommercial Broadcasting Freedom of Expression Act," would eliminate the longstanding requirement that an organization must have an educational mission in order to be eligible for a specially reserved, public broadcasting channel.

The Republican leadership says this change is necessary so that religious broadcasters can be eligible for these specially reserved channels. The truth is that many religious broadcasters currently hold noncommercial licenses, and have done so for years. The only catch is they are required to schedule some educational programming in their line-up.

This bill would change all that. In fact, under H.R. 4201, any RELIGIOUS EXTREMIST or CULT group in America would qualify for a free noncommercial educational license – at the expense of the American taxpayer – and program anything it sees fit. Hate speech, religious bigotry, and doomsday prophecies are all fair game for this special license, so long as the broadcaster simply asserts a "primarily religious purpose."

Contrary to its title, this bill is not about freedom of expression. Under today’s rules, any group can purchase a commercial broadcast license and program whatever it chooses, whether educational or not. But in exchange for a free noncommercial educational license from the government, it must broadcast some amount of educational programming.

Under the rubric proposed here, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood could be displaced by programming produced by cult leaders like Jim Jones and David Koresh, each of whom would have been eligible to receive a specially reserved television channel under this bill.

Worse, while the bill’s sponsors ostensibly seek to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from ever discriminating against an organization on the basis of the religious content of its programming, it may be forcing precisely that result.

If two (or more) religious broadcasters are vying for a single license, the FCC would be forced to choose between them based solely on the nature of the religious content. This is clearly an unconstitutional encroachment on the establishment clause of the First Amendment. In our view, this kind of legislating simply tarnishes the reputation of this great institution, and serves none of us well.

The Republican leadership’s education "agenda" is becoming increasingly clear. Unfortunately, the needs of our children are taking a back seat to the needs of some better organized religious extremists. Parents rely on public broadcasting as a safe haven for high quality, educational programming for their children. Don’t let them take that away. Oppose H.R. 4201.

Sincerely,