Friday November 04, 2005

Getting While the Getting’s Good

It appears Kenneth Tomlinson, the controversial former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, doesn’t like the looks of a soon-to-be-released report on his crusade to root out alleged liberal bias at CPB. He resigned from the corporation’s board yesterday.

While fans of the administration are quick to point out that Tomlinson was, in fact, a Clinton appointee, that’s beside the point. As with the FCC, the party composition of the CPB board is constrained by statute (Michael Powell was a Clinton appointee, too), and Tomlinson has done nothing but carry water for the Bush White House. He helped install former RNC co-chair Patricia Harrison as CPB’s president; he let an administration staffer draft guidelines for the corporation’s ombudsmen; and he hired a conservative consultant to monitor the content of NOW with Bill Moyers. Unfortunately, his departure may do little stop the rightward tide. GOP fundraisers Cheryl Halpern and Gay Hart Gaines were elected as the CPB’s chair and vice chair, respectively, in September.

CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz began investigating Tomlinson’s policies in May at the request of Hill Democrats. The report, which is sure to make good reading, has not yet been made public. For now, Tomlinson remains chairman of of the Broadcasting Board of Governors—a post to which he was appointed by Bush—the body that oversees Voice of America and other international broadcasts.

Posted by jim at 10:30 AM ||