From the "No S**t" Files

(link inserted into title)

Found this in yesterday's Philly Inkwaster:

(I'm going to publish some of it because PNI may have already archived the story and many people oppose having to join up to read it)

Political Turmoil at PBS, NPR
Charges of bias lead to changes, backlash
by Steven Goldstein
Inquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - For many Americans, public TV means Sesame Street, Masterpiece Theatre and Antiques Roadshow. But for Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, it came to mean liberal bias in its news and public affairs programming.

Two years ago, the Republican former head of Voice of America and Reader's Digest set out to restore what he called objectivity and balance to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio.

Now Tomlinson's makeover attempts have made their own news: Angry chiefs at PBS and NPR; an investigation of whether his actions amounted to illegal political interference; and questions about whether he may have overreached.

Media specialist Patricia Aufderheide said Tomlinson's actions show a "wanton disregard" for the corporation's mission.

"It's not CPB's job to introduce politicization; its job it to insulate public broadcasting from partisan politics," said Aufderheide, who teaches at American University's Center for Social Media in Washington.

But conservative media critic L. Brent Bozell said the corporation's "serious" plans to achieve a better balance on views will allow PBS to "have more success, getting more and more federal funding."

The serious plans included Tomlinson's quiet hiring last year of a private consultant to monitor the content of Bill Moyers' show Now for "anti-Bush" and "anti-business" biases. Moyers left in December, but the half-hour weekly program continues.


(snip)

Tomlinson's mostly behind-the-scenes campaign recently reached a wider audience with the appointment of two ombudsmen to monitor PBS content, and with public sparring between Tomlinson and PBS president Pat Mitchell.

In a speech at the end of May, Mitchell defended her organization's integrity and said it would not be deterred by political threats.

"PBS has built and maintained a steadfast resolve to never give in to pressures to reflect a political agenda," she said.

(snip)

NPR president Kevin Klose called "unsupportable" an assertion by Tomlinson that NPR's reporting on the Middle East is unbalanced.

(snip)

Says American University's Aufderheide: "The issue should be providing the information that viewers and listeners want and need, not questions of balance. It will be interesting to see how PBS handles this challenge and how the stations handle this intimidation."

Medic's Musing:

Where do I start?? "Never give in to pressures to reflect a political agenda?" Of course, you never "give in" when the agenda in already built into the system at PBS!

"Providing the information that viewers and listeners want and need?" To paraphrase Marx (how appropriate),...the MSM has become the opiate of the masses! What they "want and need" is what the MSM is willing to spoon-feed the neo-Soc PBS supporters!


Oh,..God,..I need to stop,..my side's splitting!