Trust is something very important to public broadcasting, because as a contributor you trust your contribution will go to the programming you like and the station you love.  This is true with every public television and radio station.  However, some stations trying to make ends meet have creatively yet inappropriately taken advantage of that trust by trading the mailing lists of their contributors with other organizations without their contributors knowledge.

When doing mass mailings, it is much more cost efficient to work with lists from other organizations that have similar qualities than to just do a random mailing.  For example, many people who enjoy public broadcasting also visit museums and attend arts events, so it would make sense that a museum might swap its list of contributors with that of a public broadcaster to target a specific, similar group and help increase contributions for each organization.  While this intrudes on trust and individual privacy, this kind of cooperation is currently not against the law and has been going on for some time.

Recently, because many people who enjoy public broadcasting are also politically active, several large public broadcasters like WGBH Boston, WNET New York, KQED San Francisco, and even Maryland Public Television admitted to taking list trading one step further by swapping lists with political organizations rather than just cultural and civic organizations.  Because public broadcasters receive money from the federal government, Congress has perceived this as lobbying.  Laws were already in place to forbidding any organization that receives money from the government from lobbying Congress with those same funds.  Certain members of Congress are now intent on punishing all public broadcasting stations for the misdeeds of a few.  Legislation has been drafted that would dramatically reduce funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting  the quasi-governmental agency that distributes the money given by Congress to all public broadcasters.

Public broadcasters must maintain a delicate balance.  We operate as a public service, and are supposed to air quality programs without regard to profit, yet we exist in a market economy and have to raise enough money every year to cover our operating expenses.  I believe that reducing CPB funding will simply force stations to scramble even more to get their necessary funding.  The current level of CPB funding breaks down to $1.00 of federal tax money per U.S. citizen per year.  This amount is for radio and television combined.  The vast majority of these funds (75%) go to public television.  One dollar per person seems a small price to pay to continue to receive the high quality of programming in public broadcasting.  The Carnegie Commission, which crafted the current system of public broadcasting, suggested in a 1979 book A Public Trust: The Future of Public Broadcasting that $5 in taxes per person per year would best keep public broadcasting from becoming too commercial.  While the Carnegie Commission suggested some entrepreneurial spirit was good, Commission members were fearful that without strong federal support, public broadcasting would be forced to become too commercial.

While I understand the challenges faced by these overly aggressive stations (we face many of them as well), I cannot condone such stretching of the rules of decency.  Therefore, please understand that WESM has not swapped mailing lists with anyone, nor will it ever swap names with any organization – with one exception.  Because this station is part of The University of Maryland Eastern Shore, which is in turn part of the University System of Maryland, we are required to acknowledge all gifts received to the University System's Foundation.  When I inquired this past July, I was assured by the Foundation that they do no swapping and that all names received are maintained for record-keeping purposes only.  I say all this in an effort to maintain a level of trust with you and hope that you continue to appreciate and support what we do at WESM.  Thanks for your continued trust.