The New York Times has already begun lobbying for a trust fund for PBS in this article. (Thanks to Artsjournal for the tip)
Among the NYT's curious decisions was labelling Norman Ornstein of AEI a "conservative." When I was involved in the issue, a decade ago, Ornstein was considered a liberal democrat and CNN commentator (CNN at that point was called by some the Clinton News Network). But maybe he's changed. In any case, any conservative Republican might realize that Ornstein's catchphrase "socially useful programming" means spending taxpayer money to defeat Republicans...
IMHO, PBS stations should return any proceeds from spectrum sale directly to the US taxpayers -- who subsidized the network in the first place. Then the money can be used for real social needs--preserving social security or paying for homeland security, or to buy bulletproof vests and armor for our soldiers in Iraq.
Luckily for President Bush, PBS has done a good job of self-destruction in the last ten years. Ratings are down nicely. Programming is stupider than ever. And serious viewers who want educational and cultural enrichment have C-SPAN and the History Channel to turn to. Congress should let the process continue to its natural end, and stop PBS stations (many of which already have multi-million dollar endowments!) from stealing valuable spectrum revenue from the American taxpayer.
