Once again, President Bush is proposing to slash funding for public broadcasting. Bush’s budget would cut federal funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by nearly 25%.

Independent journalism, intelligent cultural coverage, and even Sesame Street are all at risk.

Bush’s budget recommendations are similar to cuts he requested last year. But citizens successfully called on Congress to reinstate funding. People will need to speak up again for community and public radio and television stations.

MoveOn.org started a petition drive urging Congress to fully restore this year’s funding and to provide a permanent funding stream free from political pressure. The group says it has 600,000 signatures already. (It’s worth noting the American Family Association has started its own petition drive to halt Congressional funding.)

But this isn’t just about PBS or NPR. Community radio stations and public access television stations also receive federal funding. Grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting make up 18% of the budget of WORT-FM, my community radio station here in Madison, Wisconsin.

Norm Stockwell, operations coordinator of WORT-FM, told me that Bush’s proposed cuts would have a dramatic impact on the station. “An additional two to three weeks of on-air fundraising would be required to even begin to approximate the loss,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Our equipment and production capabilities would suffer, as would our ability to serve as a training ground for future hosts, engineers, and producers. These cuts would seriously decrease our ability to serve unrepresented and underrepresented members of our community with an important source of news information and culture.”

For all its flaws, public broadcasting remains an important resource. Congress needs to keep funding it.