View From the Phlipside - All News is Local

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

Back in the 1980s we heard a political truism from then Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill.  Tip knew from his days in Boston politics that "All politics are local".  Over the years of working in the media I realized that there was a parallel truism in the news - "All News is Local".  If it doesn't have some impact on us locally it isn't news.  The earthquake in Japan may be terrible and we certainly pay attention to it but it's not NEWS, not the way the increase in gasoline prices are.  The unrest in the Middle East has a much greater impact on us because it strikes close to home.

With that in mind is the bill currently coming before Congress to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Several sponsors of the bill have been quick to point out that they aren't trying to score political points by taking out NPR and PBS.  Rather this is just necessary pruning in hard times.  Since politics aren't the balliwick of this commentary I'll take them at their word.  Let's look at this strictly from the point of view of media.

Folks like to extol the virtues of private industry over public institutions.  I'm just not sure that in this case the argument works.  While both commercial radio and TV have brought us some excellent products they've also brought us "Who's the Boss" and the safest 500 songs list (and yes, that's a list of songs that virtually no one gets really excited about.  There are folks in radio who think that's a good thing.  Go figure).  Having a source for programming that is actually primarily concerned about the excellence of the programs doesn't strike me as a bad idea.

But that's not the best argument for continuing to fund CPB.  You see there IS a local argument.  Sure NPR has recently announced that they only get about 2% of their funding from the federal budget.  They'll probably easily replace it if necessary. The problem is that many small radio stations probably won't be able to replace it.  Small radio stations like this one.  The one you're listening to right now.  Grant money from CPB is a vital part of the financial health of small radio stations like ours.

Suddenly this story is a whole lot more local isn't it?  The story is easy to ignore when it is just about 2% of National Public Radio's budget.  I'm hoping it's a whole lot higher on your priorities list now that it may take something away from this area.  Something we're not ever likely to be able to replace.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011