member board of directors which consisted of 13 professional representatives and 17 lay representatives from the member stations, 4 general directors, and the PBS president (Jarvik 1-50).
The annual budget for The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)is about $1.5 billion, and of this, $250 million comes from the government, which provides basic financial support for more than 1,000 public TV and radio stations. The total budget for public television covers 349 member stations, many of which have been highly creative in finding ways to add to their funding during pledge drives, auctions, and other fund-raising activities (McGraw 42). The pressure has been great, so great that some of the means of raising funds have also raised questions. The most recent flap concerned the selling of member rosters to political candidates who wanted to reach potential donors. Such lists were sold to both republicans and Democrats, though the sale of one set to a Democrat made the issue seem more partisan than it was. The same sort of perception-by-association would follow increased corporate funding and commercialization as well.
Critics have challenged current practices, such as the alliances with Disney, Time Warner, and Microsoft, and criticisms arise on both sides of the political spectrum. Some conservatives claim that PBS's ability to make money in private business deals proves that it no longer needs federal funding. Advocates of public television are increasingly concerned that PBS programmers will make decisions based on how well a video will sell rather than on pure educational content. The executive director of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm in Washington, is Gigi
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