Thursday, March 27, 2025

The January 6th lawbreaker President, day 66

Notes of day 66 of the presidency of the power-crazed, January 6th lawbreaker, 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Email to Alabama journalism and communications professors
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: mnelson@ua.edu <mnelson@ua.edu>; alfranks@uab.edu <alfranks@uab.edu>; jzb0124@auburn.edu <jzb0124@auburn.edu>; mcarey@samford.edu <mcarey@samford.edu>; cofieldj@montevallo.edu <cofieldj@montevallo.edu>
Cc: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; sdiorio@wvua23.com <sdiorio@wvua23.com>; scott.carpenter@hearst.com <scott.carpenter@hearst.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 07:34:13 PM CDT
Subject: NPR and PBS heads face sharp questioning about federal funding during House hearing
Dear Alabama journalism and communications professors:
The United States House of Representatives hearing reported on last night at NPR and PBS heads face sharp questioning about federal funding during House hearing | PBS News prompts me to ask you the following questions:
1. How do you rate the journalistic performances of PBS Newshour (with which I am familiar) and NPR?
2. In your teaching of students, do you cite PBS Newshour and NPR as exemplars of excellent TV and radio journalism that your students should learn from?
3. Do you think Alabama local TV stations should try to learn from and try to aspire to the journalistic quality of PBS Newshour and NPR?
4. Do you think worthwhile improvement of the journalistic performances of Alabama TV stations is a hopeless aspiration?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook
(for filing in Citizens Acting to End the Trump Presidency: The January 6th lawbreaker President, day 66) Email Alabama Public Television Commissioners re "Alabama Public Television's opportunity to support democracy"
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: ferrisstephens@bellsouth.net <ferrisstephens@bellsouth.net>; bebe67williams@gmail.com <bebe67williams@gmail.com>; wagreen@william-delaney.com <wagreen@william-delaney.com>; jholland31@comcast.net <jholland31@comcast.net>; hlbarnett@southalabama.edu <hlbarnett@southalabama.edu>; tyadetunji@gmail.com <tyadetunji@gmail.com>; pconroy@jse.edu <pconroy@jse.edu>
Cc: Sharon Tinsley <stinsley@al-ba.com>; jessica.umbro@wsfa.com <jessica.umbro@wsfa.com>; shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; sdiorio@wvua23.com <sdiorio@wvua23.com>; tstacy@aptv.org <tstacy@aptv.org>; rscott@aptv.org <rscott@aptv.org>; bbritt@alreporter.com <bbritt@alreporter.com>; jmoon@alreporter.com <jmoon@alreporter.com>; sbritt@alreporter.com <sbritt@alreporter.com>; Brian Lyman <blyman@alabamareflector.com>; jsharp@al.com <jsharp@al.com>; csmith@al.com <csmith@al.com>; Dale Jackson <dale@yellowhammernews.com>; yaffee@yellowhammernews.com <yaffee@yellowhammernews.com>; will.blakely@1819news.com <will.blakely@1819news.com>; erica.thomas@1819news.com <erica.thomas@1819news.com>; saa0056@auburn.edu <saa0056@auburn.edu>; brunnbr@auburn.edu <brunnbr@auburn.edu>; all0093@auburn.edu <all0093@auburn.edu>; ney0002@auburn.edu <ney0002@auburn.edu>; bcd0039@auburn.edu <bcd0039@auburn.edu>; fairlln@auburn.edu <fairlln@auburn.edu>; fillise@auburn.edu <fillise@auburn.edu>; mnelson@ua.edu <mnelson@ua.edu>; alfranks@uab.edu <alfranks@uab.edu>; jzb0124@auburn.edu <jzb0124@auburn.edu>; mcarey@samford.edu <mcarey@samford.edu>; cofieldj@montevallo.edu <cofieldj@montevallo.edu>; jtbailey@ua.edu <jtbailey@ua.edu>; kbissell@ua.edu <kbissell@ua.edu>; mdbruce@ua.edu <mdbruce@ua.edu>; wevans@ua.edu <wevans@ua.edu>; djgriffin1@ua.edu <djgriffin1@ua.edu>; sahartley1@ua.edu <sahartley1@ua.edu>; dmwaymer@ua.edu <dmwaymer@ua.edu>; laurie.wright@ua.edu <laurie.wright@ua.edu>; bsbutler@ua.edu <bsbutler@ua.edu>; ajbauer2@ua.edu <ajbauer2@ua.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 03:31:00 PM CST
Subject: Alabama Public Television's opportunity to support democracy
Dear Alabama Public Television Commissioners:
As you consider Alabama Public Television severing its ties with the Public Broadcasting System ( No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS | WBHM 90.3), I would like to discuss the two, interrelated reasons you give and focus on the second reason.
The first reason given is that Trump has cut funding of PBS and that as a result APT has had to cut its budget. I don't know how much funding APT gets from the Alabama state government and thereby from Alabama taxpayers and how much comes from private donations. Before APT severs with PBS, you might wait and see how much private donors are willing to increase their donations to preserve the PBS shows that APT has heretofore carried.
The second reason I would like to focus on is that Trump ran on a promise to defund public media, that 65% of Alabamians voted for Trump, and that APT, as a state agency, should follow the lead of the president and the majority of Alabama voters, meaning APT should be guided by Trump's view that neither PBS nor NPR presents a “fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
The proper functioning of our democracy is dependent on print, TV and online journalism fulfilling their journalistic obligations to the public. See excerpts of Radio Television Digital News Association's code of ethics set out at Be An Alabama Rootstriker* with Rob Shattuck: Local TV stations, journalism ethics and political ads.
With the political extremes controlling our political discourse, with the two political sides endlessly accusing each other of lying, with financial resources for independent journalism drying up, and with corporate ownership and economic interests taking precedence over journalistic obligations, journalism is increasing impaired in performing its journalistic obligations to the public.
For some time I have been criticizing Alabama local television stations for failing to adequately fulfill their journalistic obligations to the Alabama public. See, e,g,, Be An Alabama Rootstriker* with Rob Shattuck: Getting AL TV stations to do better in 2024 elections
I have gone so far as to suggest to the TV stations that they put a disclaimer at the start of their news shows to the effect that the TV station is not adequately fulfilling its journalistic obligations to its viewers.
Here's a suggestion for the Commission:
Conduct an evaluation of how "fair, accurate and unbiased" PBS Newshour is. To the extent PBS Newshour is concluded to be deficient, consider corrections that might be undertaken by APT to remedy the deficiency, such as supplemental news programming.
There should be lots of resources in Alabama to help APT making the evaluation, including Alabama local TV stations' personnel, "right" and "left" political media and commentators in Alabama, and Alabama journalism and communications professors.
To encourage this, I am copying on this email a number of Alabama parties in the foregoing categories.
I hope the APT Board will take up this suggestion, which could be very helpful to democracy in Alabama.
I would be pleased to help out personally.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: ferrisstephens@bellsouth.net <ferrisstephens@bellsouth.net>; bebe67williams@gmail.com <bebe67williams@gmail.com>; wagreen@william-delaney.com <wagreen@william-delaney.com>; jholland31@comcast.net <jholland31@comcast.net>; hlbarnett@southalabama.edu <hlbarnett@southalabama.edu>; tyadetunji@gmail.com <tyadetunji@gmail.com>; pconroy@jse.edu <pconroy@jse.edu>
Cc: Sharon Tinsley <stinsley@al-ba.com>; jessica.umbro@wsfa.com <jessica.umbro@wsfa.com>; shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; sdiorio@wvua23.com <sdiorio@wvua23.com>; tstacy@aptv.org <tstacy@aptv.org>; rscott@aptv.org <rscott@aptv.org>; bbritt@alreporter.com <bbritt@alreporter.com>; jmoon@alreporter.com <jmoon@alreporter.com>; sbritt@alreporter.com <sbritt@alreporter.com>; Brian Lyman <blyman@alabamareflector.com>; jsharp@al.com <jsharp@al.com>; csmith@al.com <csmith@al.com>; Dale Jackson <dale@yellowhammernews.com>; yaffee@yellowhammernews.com <yaffee@yellowhammernews.com>; will.blakely@1819news.com <will.blakely@1819news.com>; erica.thomas@1819news.com <erica.thomas@1819news.com>; saa0056@auburn.edu <saa0056@auburn.edu>; brunnbr@auburn.edu <brunnbr@auburn.edu>; all0093@auburn.edu <all0093@auburn.edu>; ney0002@auburn.edu <ney0002@auburn.edu>; bcd0039@auburn.edu <bcd0039@auburn.edu>; fairlln@auburn.edu <fairlln@auburn.edu>; fillise@auburn.edu <fillise@auburn.edu>; mnelson@ua.edu <mnelson@ua.edu>; alfranks@uab.edu <alfranks@uab.edu>; jzb0124@auburn.edu <jzb0124@auburn.edu>; mcarey@samford.edu <mcarey@samford.edu>; cofieldj@montevallo.edu <cofieldj@montevallo.edu>; jtbailey@ua.edu <jtbailey@ua.edu>; kbissell@ua.edu <kbissell@ua.edu>; mdbruce@ua.edu <mdbruce@ua.edu>; wevans@ua.edu <wevans@ua.edu>; djgriffin1@ua.edu <djgriffin1@ua.edu>; sahartley1@ua.edu <sahartley1@ua.edu>; dmwaymer@ua.edu <dmwaymer@ua.edu>; laurie.wright@ua.edu <laurie.wright@ua.edu>; bsbutler@ua.edu <bsbutler@ua.edu>; ajbauer2@ua.edu <ajbauer2@ua.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2025 at 04:12:25 AM CST
Subject: Re: Alabama Public Televison's opportunity to support democracy
[For what it is worth, I copy and paste below a Facebook post that Josh Moon made yesterday.]
A commissioner on the Alabama Educational Television Commission recently said PBS is the enemy of what he stands for. And I don't think there's a better example of the absolute stupidity and insanity that has gripped America than that.
My column: ----------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Will we ever go back to normal?
Is it possible? Once Donald Trump is gone, or buried under an avalanche of Epstein files, will it ever be possible to return to the days of relative sanity and decency – a time when people didn’t lie with impunity, didn’t feel comfortable openly believing incredibly stupid things and didn’t take pride in cruelty?
It would be nice to think there’s a chance. Because I have to tell you, life currently is fairly ridiculous.
I don’t say that as a progressive, or as a Democrat. I say it as a normal human with a working brain.
Some of y’all have lost your minds.
Let’s set aside for a moment the thousands upon thousands of people who still, somehow, believe that Trump isn’t trying to hide the Epstein files because he’s in them. And let’s not worry for a few moments about a sitting president asking the Supreme Court to let him starve hungry Americans. And let’s not even get into the Republicans in Congress being willing to just close up shop for months in order to protect the president from (seemingly) pedophile past.
No, instead, let’s go local. To something far simpler and far more ridiculous.
In a public meeting a couple of weeks ago, a man seated on the Alabama Educational Television Commission said out loud, knowing full well that other people could hear him, that PBS had “made themselves the enemy of what I stand with, and so I do not like them.”
This comment came during a meeting in which the commission was discussing dropping PBS programming from Alabama Public Television – a move that would cost APT millions of dollars and essentially end its relationship with hundreds of schools and tens of thousands young Alabamians.
But I want you to consider that statement made by Les Barnett – that Mr. Rogers, Big Bird and Daniel Tiger are the enemies of what he believes in.
PBS programming has raised multiple generations of American children, taught them the basics of early education, entertained them wholesomely for hours and instilled within them basic empathy and kindness for their fellow humans.
That last part is where, I suspect, Barnett and other conservatives have found PBS to be diametrically opposed to their way of thinking. Because from time to time, PBS programming has shown gay characters, and those characters have been treated the same as other characters. At the same time, the overall programming has maintained a firm “give all people respect and kindness” approach.
APT, ever since a conservative takeover a little more than a decade ago, has found it incredibly hard to swallow that empathetic approach. In 2019, it refused to air an episode of the cartoon “Arthur,” because it featured a gay wedding. And it has sporadically attempted to air – and has aired – programming from highly questionable sources simply because that programming reinforced certain religious beliefs.
They have justified all of this using the false equivalency game that conservatives have mastered: If it’s not OK to air overtly religious programming that incorrectly portrays the principles upon which the country was founded, then it shouldn’t be OK for your “liberal propaganda” to air, either.
When did treating others with dignity and respect, honoring the promises of equality written into our founding documents and promoting kindness become one side of a political argument? And how in the world have you been convinced to argue the other side of that?
Somehow, someway a large number of people have found value in cruelty and meanness. They have attacked diversity and equality and inclusion. They have staked out a political position that says it’s not only OK to pretend certain people don’t exist and deny them equal rights, but it should be the method of operation of government entities.
For all of my life, until roughly a decade ago, America had progressed steadily forward on issues of human rights. Alabama had been dragged along mostly unwillingly. But still, it had made progress.
In the years since, we have regressed in almost every way. From voting rights to equal protections under the law, we have watched as disillusioned white people – scared to death of a more level playing field – have marched us backward until we now sit here and watch as masked government agents kidnap citizens who “look Hispanic” and we’re on the verge of legalizing racial gerrymandering.
It’s a disgusting, ignorant era.
I’d just like for it to be over, and for us to go back to normal soon.


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