The United States has one of the lowest funded public media systems in the developed world.

The federal government spends only $1.43 per person each year on public media, compared to more than 70 times that amount in the United Kingdom or over 80 times that amount in Denmark.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, and NPR were launched 40 years ago. But today only 20 percent of public media's cost is actually underwritten by the federal government through the CPB, forcing public media outlets to increasingly rely on corporate underwriters for support.

To make matters worse, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that controls that 20 percent funding is run by political appointees who have abused their position to inject partisan politics into grant-making. Famously, during the Bush administration Karl Rove's friend Kenneth Tomlinson chaired the CPB. Tomlinson was fired from his position, but not before filling the organization's ranks with rightwing operatives and hiring a former RNC head as CEO.

We need a robust alternative to the lap-dog corporate journalism that reported nonexistent WMD and got us into Iraq. We need media that debunks FOX News's denial of the science of climate change. We need a vibrant public media to tell the truth crucial to safeguarding our democracy.

We need to save our public media system.

Tell the US Senate, the US House, and Pres. Obama to fully fund a public media system that is free from political interference.