Saw this just posted on
CommonBlog.
Guys ... just wanted to restart the conversation on the GOP takeover attempts of our public broadcasting networks. Common Cause has a petition going basically putting the CPB chief Kenneth Tomlinson, who is a stooge for Karl Rove, on notice that people are not going to be tolerating any fiddling with NPR and PBS. I think they have already collected more than 30,000 signatures. So let's give them a push. If you have not signed the petition, please
make sure to sign it and pass it on to everyone you know. Here is the direct link:
http://www.commoncause.org/protectpublicbroadcastingThe
CommonBlog post after the jump
Over the past several days Kenneth Tomlinson, the Chairmand of Corporation of Public Broadcasting ("CPB") has been defending his actions in the media by repeating his mantra that public broadcasting has a liberal bias and needs to have "
balance." He positions himself as a dedicated supporter of public broadcasting who is trying to save it from itself. Yet the only way Tomlinson seems to do it is to promote ideological conservative shows like the Wall Street Journal program-a for profit company that shouldn't need public funds to get its conservative editorial views across to the public.
This type of double speak is nothing new, we have seen attacks on public broadcasting from polarizing partisans like former President Richard Nixon and House Speaker Newt Gingrich-both of whom thought public broadcasting was too liberal and sought to undermine it one way or another. Like Nixon who sought to takeover the CPB board and infrastructure as a way to control his "
enemies," Tomlinson is
stacking the CPB payroll with fellow Republicans and former White House staffers.
He appointed Ken Ferree, former advisor to Republican FCC Chairman Michael Powell. He hired Mary Catherine Andrews, a White House communications officer as a "special advisor" to create the controversial CPB ombudsmen positions tasked with evaluating NPR and PBS programs for bias...a first in CPB's 38 year history. It is also widely known that he is considering filling the CPB presidency vacancy with former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Assistant Secretary of State Patricia Harrison, a clearly partisan choice.
There are some in the conservative camp who are always going to think the news and public affairs programming on public broadcasting has liberal bias-no matter what the majority of Americans think. According to
a poll the CPB itself funded, "the majority of the U.S. adult population does not believe that the news and information programming on public broadcasting is biased.
No matter how he tries to frame it, Tomlinson is injecting politics into public broadcasting, he is interfering with the editorial independence of NPR and PBS and he is using the CPB purse strings to do it and we need your help to stop him. Please join us in sending him a clear message that we don't believe his double speak and he needs to look at the facts. If you haven't already,
please sign our petition to Tomlinson which we will present to him at the CPB board meeting on June 20. We have already collected more than 33,000 signatures - lets get the number to 100,000 by June 20th.