VPR letter in BFP

Burlington Free Press
Letter to the Editor page
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/editorial/wednesday/4000h.htm

Oust ads

Thank you for the story, "VPR fund-raiser falls short of goals" (July 9),
which addressed how Vermont Public Radio fell $38,000 short of its summer
fundraising goal. While the story offers nice weather and listener fatigue
as reasons for declining revenues, I'd like to offer another potential
explanation.

VPR has recently been inundated with advertisements from the anti-union,
anti-woman, anti-environment, anti-downtown, pro-sweatshop, pro-sprawl and
pro-China Wal-Mart. I watch Wal-Mart ads on TV, and while their rhetoric
bothers me, I know their advertising helps pay for the programs I enjoy.
VPR, however, claims to be "listener supported," and as a listener, I
don't want to support hearing Wal-Mart's deceitful self-promotion.

The reality is simple: Wal-Mart's business practices are a disgrace and no
amount of money spent on advertisements on VPR should buy them the right
to cover up the well-deserved media that is drawing attention to their
poor business practices that threaten so many American values.

VPR listeners are right to not give their hard-earned money to a "listener
supported" radio station that takes money from Wal-Mart. Perhaps this is a
driving factor in why VPR came up $38,000 short in their summer
fundraising drive.

LINDSEY HODEL
Worcester
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