posted on May 2, 2005 05:10:10 PM
New York Times News Service
Published May 2, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias, prompting some public broadcasting leaders--including the chief executive of PBS--to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence.
Without his board's knowledge, Kenneth Tomlinson, who has close ties to presidential adviser Karl Rove, contracted last year with an outside consultant to keep track of the guests' political leanings on one program, "Now With Bill Moyers."
In late March, on the recommendation of administration officials, Tomlinson hired the director of the White House Office of Global Communications as a senior staffer, corporation officials said. While she was still on the White House staff, she helped draft guidelines governing the work of two ombudsmen whom the corporation recently appointed to review the content of public radio and television broadcasts.
Tomlinson also encouraged corporation and public broadcasting officials to broadcast "The Journal Editorial Report," whose host, Paul Gigot, editor of the conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, is his friend. And while a search firm has been retained to find a successor for Kathleen Cox, the corporation's president and chief executive, whose contract was not renewed last month, Tomlinson has made clear to the board that his choice is Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee who is now an assistant secretary of state.
`Attempts to influence content'
Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS, was critical of Tomlinson, with whom she has sparred in private but till now has stopped short of challenging publicly.
"I believe there has been no chilling effect, but I do think there have been instances of attempts to influence content from a political perspective that I do not consider appropriate," Mitchell, who has announced that she will step down when her contract expires next year, said in an interview Friday.
Tomlinson said he is striving for balance and has no desire to impose a political point of view on programming.
"My goal here is to see programming that satisfies a broad constituency," he said, adding, "I'm not after removing shows or tampering internally with shows." But he has repeatedly criticized public television programs as too liberal overall, and said in the interview, "I frankly feel at PBS headquarters there is a tone deafness to issues of tone and balance."
It is not a shock that Moyers' work exercised Tomlinson. He is a reliable source of agitation for conservatives, who complain that "Now" under Moyers (who left the show last year) was consistently critical of Republicans and the Bush administration.
During one broadcast, days after the Republicans gained control of the Senate in the 2002 elections, Moyers said the entire federal government was "united behind a right-wing agenda" that included "the power of the state to force pregnant women to give up control over their own lives."
In December 2003, three months after he was elected chairman, Tomlinson sent Mitchell of PBS a letter outlining his concerns. "`Now With Bill Moyers' does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting," he wrote.
Guests listed as `anti-Bush'
Shortly after, Tomlinson hired a consultant to review Moyers' program; one three-month contract cost $10,000. The reports Tomlinson saw placed the program's guests in categories like "anti-Bush," "anti-business" and "anti-Tom DeLay," referring to the House majority leader, corporation officials said.
Moyers said Friday that he did not know a content review was undertaken but added that he was not surprised.
"Tomlinson has waged a surreptitious and relentless campaign against `Now' and me," said Moyers
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
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President George Bush: "Over time the truth will come out."
President George Bush: "Our people are going to find out the truth, and the truth will say that this intelligence was good intelligence. There's no doubt in my mind."
Bush was right. The truth did come out and the facts are he misled Congress and the American people about the reasons we should go to war in Iraq.
posted on May 3, 2005 12:48:14 PM
PBS is too liberal? Is this a joke, Logan? While thinking about Helen's post regarding the children in the Nazi camps, I realize we're not so far removed. I see the religious right trying to take over the world by making people conform to a certain way of living and thinking. Is this really the road we all want to take?
posted on May 3, 2005 05:35:48 PM
I remember a post from Linda_K with her saying she wished this (her) government would stop funding Public Radio. Yes, a small minority of whacked out republicans like Linda_K and a few also whacked out republican members of Congress would love to control what or who America listens to.
DON'T WORRY LESS RADICAL PEOPLE BOTH REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WILL PREVAIL IN THE 2006 ELECTIONS.
posted on May 3, 2005 05:49:34 PM
Yes, some think PBS is liberal because they present FACTS...not propaganda and it makes them LOOK liberal. They actually took a survey on themselves and found out they had on more Republicans than Democrats.
Some would want to end PBS because it's available to everyone not just the rich. Don't want the teeming masses to learn anything that doesn't fit with their agenda.
posted on May 3, 2005 08:23:34 PM
Heaven forbid honest reporting should extend to PBS. MSM liperal media is dying from self destruction so why shouldn't PBS become a honest media outlet.
A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice."
- Bill Cosby
