This article was authored by Michelle Kelley, AAPB Media Historian and Curator.
Jimmy Carter’s presidency was beset by skyrocketing inflation, a faltering economy, and political crises abroad. However, it was also defined by his many achievements, such as the historic peace agreements he brokered between Egypt and Israel. Another was the passage of the Public Telecommunications Financing Act of 1978, which increased federal funding for public broadcasting and provided long-range financing to help insulate the system from political influence. With the Public Broadcasting Financing Act of 1975, it established a precedent for the federal funding of public broadcasting that lasted through the mid-1980s.1
When Carter assumed the presidency, the public broadcasting system established following the signing of the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act was still in its infancy. A product of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the fledgling system encountered some of its greatest challenges in its first decade. A lack of clarity about the respective roles of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) led to tensions between the two organizations.2 Angered by what he perceived to be the liberal bias of its programming, President Richard Nixon attempted to wield control over public broadcasting through overt and covert means. Nixon’s efforts culminated in 1972 when he vetoed the CPB’s authorization bill, leading to the resignation of nearly all of the CPB’s principal executives.3
Nixon’s attempt to influence public programming attested to the importance of insulating the system from political interference. One way to do this was by securing long-range financing for public broadcasting. Advocates of long-range financing argued that annual appropriations left the system vulnerable to political pressure. Public broadcasting would be less likely to tackle controversial subjects if it needed to secure funding annually. In 1972, a CPB task force called on Congress to authorize federal funding for public broadcasting “for a period of no less than five years.” The Public Broadcasting Financing Act of 1975, passed under President Gerald Ford, authorized appropriations for a five-year period but in many ways fell short of the task force’s recommendations.4
In 1977, Carter submitted proposals to Congress to further strengthen public broadcasting. He called for the continuation of long-range financing and an increase in federal funding, providing public broadcasting with more than $1 billion in federal support over a five-year period beginning in 1981.5 Carter’s bill introduced statutory changes to increase cooperation between the CPB, PBS, and National Public Radio (NPR); required open meetings to allow for greater public participation in the system; and mandated an increase in employment, training, and ownership opportunities for minorities and women.6 In his message to Congress accompanying these proposals, Carter expressed his commitment to safeguarding public broadcasting from political influence:
This Administration will not try to stifle controversy on public television and radio. No President should try to dictate what issues public broadcasting should cover or how it should cover them. And this legislation will make such an attempt more unlikely.7
President Jimmy Carter in his 1977 message to Congress
Carter’s proposals faced opposition from members of Congress who argued that public broadcasting should not be afforded long-range financing until it resolved its internal conflicts.8 While Congress debated Carter’s proposed legislation, the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Public Broadcasting was preparing its own recommendations. Following a comprehensive study, the Commission called for a dramatic increase in federal funding to be paid for with general tax revenue and a spectrum use fee levied on all users of the airwaves. It also suggested replacing the CPB with a Public Telecommunications Trust and establishing a Program Services Endowment to invest in programming. The Commission’s recommendations were not taken up by the Carter administration.
The Public Telecommunications Financing Act of 1978 was signed into law on November 2, providing increasing levels of federal support for public broadcasting through 1983. In signing the bill, Carter noted that it achieved nearly all the objectives he had presented to Congress a year earlier. However, he expressed regret that the bill retained a provision prohibiting public stations from editorializing.9 His opposition to this clause suggests the importance he placed on preventing the government from dictating the content of public programming.
While the Public Telecommunications Financing Act of 1978 was not a radical departure from earlier public broadcasting legislation, it preserved long-range financing despite political opposition, providing the system with financial stability during a turbulent and uncertain time, both for the country and public broadcasting.
- John Witherspoon and Roselle Kovits, A History of Public Broadcasting with an update by Robert K. Avery and Alan G. Stavitsky (Current Publishing Committee, 2000), 51.
↩︎ - Ibid., 37-41.
↩︎ - Ibid., 43. ↩︎
- Ibid., 51-52. ↩︎
- Les Brown, “Carter’s Five-Year $1 Billion Plan for Public Broadcasting Opposed,” New York Times, March 4, 1978, 45.
↩︎ - Jimmy Carter, “Public Broadcasting System Message to the Congress.” Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/242710. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Brown, “Carter’s Plan Oppossed.” ↩︎
- Jimmy Carter, “Public Telecommunications Financing Act of 1978 Statement on Signing H.R. 12605 Into Law.” Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/243805. ↩︎
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