_______________POX POPULI BY JAMES LEDBETTER (11/10/97)

While I don't disagree with James Ledbetter's thesis "that presidential privilege has politicized the system of public broadcasting," he takes an odd swipe at the public radio program I manage, "Marketplace." He suggests that the reason "Marketplace" broadcasts the six signature notes of underwriter GE ("We bring good things to life") is somehow tied to a misguided idea of the managers of public TV and radio that "we should let the private sector run public broadcasting." Excuse me? There's no dark conspiracy or undermining of our values or virtue going on here! The reason we run the notes is because GE is a major underwriter, has been for seven years, and gives "Marketplace" funding of a size that only three or four other companies do in all of public radio. Such sponsors have the right, under FCC guidelines, to be acknowledged on the air, and that acknowledgment may include their slogan or logo. Early in his article, Ledbetter says, "LBJ was no global village idiot." Mr. Ledbetter, don't you be one. Acknowledging a major underwriter doesn't undermine public broadcasting. It just pays the bills and provides the public with outstanding programs that tax dollars do not. -- Jim Russell General Manager Marketplace Productions USC Radio University of Southern California SALON | Nov. 25, 1997

R E C E N T L Y+| CUJO'S BITE IS WORSE THAN HIS BARK BY ANNE LAMOTT

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