Editor, Gazette-Journal:

While there’s no denying county residents get good local news coverage in the Gazette-Journal, I get pleasure and information on the radio too. In the mornings when I’m outside wearing my "work tunes" and whacking weeds, the Classical station that I choose is one owned by the WHRO people. It’s one of the many National Public Radio affiliates that are supported by donations from private citizens and some business interests, together with taxpayers’ money channelled there by Congress through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The total taxpayer "contribution" is around 25 percent of operating budgets and totals millions of tax dollars according to some reliable eyeshade wearing observers.

So, what’s the big deal? Well, the morning news on FM 89.9 the other day was brought to the airwaves by NPR’s new sponsor, Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, you ask? Yes, Al Jazeera, the worldwide state owned—Qatar (get a map)—br...