Critic calls on public to reclaim broadcasts.

Byline: JEFF WRIGHT The Register-Guard

One corporation sponsors a show on commercial TV, while another corporation underwrites a show on public TV. The difference?

Not much, says David Barsamian, founder and host of the "Alternative Radio" news program.

` `Underwriting' is a euphemism created to obfuscate the fact that noncommercial TV and radio in the United States is now commercialized,' Barsamian said Wednesday in Eugene.

The author and critic will elaborate on his premise - that public broadcasting now reflects corporate America - in a public talk tonight at First United Methodist Church in Eugene.

The discussion is part of a four-city tour sponsored by Friends of Public Broadcasting, a coalition of activists advocating for greater diversity of views in public broadcasting. The tour included stops in Portland and Corvallis and concludes Friday in Bend.

Barsamian, 56, produces "Alternative Radio," a left-of-center program featured on about 125 stations across the country - including Eugene's KLCC, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays. He's been producing the award-winning show from his home base in Boulder, Colo., since 1986.

But Barsamian said his show is a minority voice in a broadcasting world dominated by conservative, corporate interests - even on so-called public stations.

In passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, Congress called for an alternative broadcasting system that would promote diverse views, take creative risks and address the needs of the underserved.

But it hasn't happened, in large part because the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio are afraid of offending actual and potential corporate underwriters, Barsamian said.

Public radio and TV enjoy "liberal" reputations, but objective reviews of their content have shown that's simply not true, he said. "It's a triumph of propaganda that that myth still persists," he said.

Conservative pundits found on commercial and cable TV are regularly "recycled" on public stations, while public-interest and citizen-group experts rarely appear, he said.

Also, pro-business programs such as "Wall $treet Week" are plentiful, while programs focusing on workers' needs and concerns are missing from public TV and radio.

"Do you think Merrill-Lynch or Paine Webber would underwrite a show on labor issues?" he asked.

In his latest book, "The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting," Barsamian cites several examples of public broadcasting refusing to bite the hand that feeds it.

For example, grain giant ADM was indicted in 1995 for alleged price fixing. But the company's troubles were never reported on PBS' popular "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," whose underwriters included ADM.

"It was a major business story - they could not have missed it," Barsamian said Wednesday. "But they did miss it."

As for public radio, such noted NPR programs as "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition" differ from commercial radio only in their "level of civility," Barsamian said. "They are bastions of politeness, but they're still not giving people perspectives from A to Z," he said. "It's more like from A to B - or from GE to GM."

On his own show in recent months, Barsamian has produced several programs related to Sept. 11 and terrorism. Listeners have "a healthy skepticism about the official line" and have tired of the fact that certain perspectives appear to be off limits in the mainstream media, he said.

`It's like, `Well, can we talk - about Israel, Iraq, globalization and U.S. domination of the world?' '

In addition to Barsamian's talk, tonight's event will include information on how citizens can "reclaim" public broadcasting.

Public broadcasters are supposed to establish independent Community Advisory Boards with the power to review station policies, practices and programming. But most public stations, if they have a board at all, look at them "as if they were booster clubs," said Loren Sears, a local videographer and spokesman for Friends of Public Broadcasting.

Sears said one of the group's goals is to persuade Oregon Public Broadcasting to create an independent advisory board and to develop a funded plan for providing "Oregon-relevant" programming.

Amy Pincus Merwin, a local independent producer, said another goal is to expand venues for independent programming on public stations. "We have no access," she said. "It's been getting tighter and tighter."

PUBLIC TALK ON PUBLIC BROADCASTING

When: Today, First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St., Eugene. Doors open at 7 p.m., main program at 7:30 p.m.

Who: David Barsamian, founder/producer of "Alternative Radio" and author of "The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting"

What else: Information on how to advocate for public broadcasting reform, book signing, door prize

Cost: Sliding scale, $5 to $15

Sponsor/more information: Friends of Public Broadcasting, call 685-9517, e-mail at [e-mail], visit Web site at www.efn.org/~fopb. Co-sponsor is Eugene Media Action, 484-9167. For more information on Barsamian's program, visit www.alternativeradio.org.

CAPTION(S):

NICOLE DeVITO / The Register-Guard David Barsamian, author of "The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting," speaks in Eugene tonight.