PAST ARTICLES AND EDITORIAL BOARDS BEYOND LIGHTS AND WIRES IN A BOX:
ENSURING THE EXISTENCE OF PUBLIC
TELEVISION
Meredith C. Hightower
3 J.L. & Pol'y 133 (1995)
Meredith Hightower's article on the political issues surrounding public television is particularly relevant, as the future of this government funded institution will come under congressional review in 1996. Hightower suggests that, in recent years, Congress has misaimed its focus regardimg public televisions. Instead of questioning the utility of public television in a technologically changing world or hampering on the controversial or politically liberal content of its programming, the author proposes that the issue of creating a better funding scheme should command the legislators' attentions. Without a revised funding scheme, the author fears that the Public Broadcasting Service will not be able to live up to Congress's intent, and therefore would allow opponents of public television to make tangential issues the center of the review process.

To lay the groundwork for her alternate funding plan, the author first analyzes the intent and purposes of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, as well as "the problems that Congress's specific statutory mandate generated." Next, the author examines the federal government's attempts to control both the administration and programming choices of the Public Broadcasting Service through funding ultamatums. These attempts are subjected to First Amendment scrutiny, with the author concluding that Congress cannot discontinue funding on the basis of the Service's pregramming choices. Finally, the author suggests "a direct federal matching grant program based on direct taxpayer contributions, similar. . . to the Presidential Campaign Fund," that will both prevent politicians from raising tangential issues and keep Congress from controlling public television programming.