GOP Chair of PBS hired White House staff to search out "liberal bias"

[VOX]

Not content to control the Congress, the judiciary, the executive branch and most of the mainstream media, the right wing is now hot on the heels of PBS.

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and a Republican, actually hired the director of the White House Office of Global Communications to investigate "liberal biases" at PBS.

In fact, "liberal biases" translates out to any ideas that run counter to the right-wing agenda. This rooting out of opposing viewpoints is a travesty. I read this story late last night, and had trouble sleeping -- it is utterly clear that right-wing radicals want to completely dominate any and all information emanating from the airwaves.

This issue is seriously worth your letters and e-mails to PBS and other entities.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/arts/television/02public.html?oref=login
New York Times
May 2, 2005
Republican Chairman Exerts Pressure on PBS, Alleging Biases
By STEPHEN LABATON, LORNE MANLY and ELIZABETH JENSEN

WASHINGTON, May 1 - 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 the knowledge of his board, the chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, 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, Mr. Tomlinson hired the director of the White House Office of Global Communications as a senior staff member, 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.

Mr. Tomlinson also encouraged corporation and public broadcasting officials to broadcast "The Journal Editorial Report," whose host, Paul Gigot, is editor of the conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. And while a search firm has been retained to find a successor for Kathleen A. Cox, the corporation's president and chief executive, whose contract was not renewed last month, Mr. 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.
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[CottonBear]

1. So, was Moyers forced to retire from PBS by *?

I really hate these Republican bastards. They do not care about real journalism and the search for the truth. The truth isn't liberal or consevative. It is what it is.

[wishlist]

2. When my fundy RW relatives started listening to PBS last year I wondered

I hadn't been keeping up with developments at PBS or listening to them on the radio (except when I go camping in remote areas and have no other way to hear basic news) so I assumed PBS was moderate and definitely not right wing, until my very conservative relatives started having PBS on in their vehicles all the time when they don't have a Christian channel on. I would not be surprised if their RW fundy circles have given them the okay to tune into PBS now that PBS is turning conservative.