Mitt Romney
(Justin Sullivan - GETTY IMAGES)
Though the debate in Washington about cutting federal funding for public television is ongoing, presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in an interview with Fortune magazine that he would cut the PBS subsidy from the federal budget.
“So first there are programs I would eliminate. Obamacare being one of them but also various subsidy programs — the Amtrak subsidy, the PBS subsidy, the subsidy for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities,” Romney told Fortune.
He added, “Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to stand on their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf.”
As The Post’s Suzy Khimm reported, the federal goverment spent $444 million on PBS in the fiscal year 2012.
At Summer TV Press Tour 2012, PBS chief Paula Kerger was asked about the debate in regards to cutting public TV’s federal funding’ she noted that it was ironic, since PBS had just recently snagged 58 Emmy nominations. Kerger also said that only 15 percent of public TV dollars come from the federally-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
However, she added, some smaller stations around the country could be eliminated if the money disappears — they depend on federal funds for half of their budgets.
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