Separation of *blank* and state

   The incident the other day with NPR has brought the state sponsored media outlet into focus for a few of us, once again the question comes to mind, why are we paying for it?

   In 1802 President Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the Baptists of Danbury addressing persecution they were receiving at the hands of the Congregationalist establishment to which they did not belong. Referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

   I have to wonder what if his letter was penned to the Hartford Courant? The First Amendment reads as follows: 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

   Now a legal mind would note that we talk about establishment of religion, not establishment of press, it doesn't say we need to restrict the government from establishing it's own entry in the press but how can any entity that is controlled by those in power, however ephemeral, be without bias, be truly free of this influence?
   I think we need to really consider cutting NPR and like entities free of government, let them survive or fail on their merits. Today we need to stand up in support of the Separation of Press and State.