Corp. for Public Broadcasting under fire

[BFrank]

There's been a threat from the radical right and the administration to muzzle PBS and NPR. Up till now it hasn't had as much press as it deserves, but here's an article in today's NY Times about some looming problems at NPR.

Following this post is an article about a speech that Bill Moyers made yesterday laying out much of what's going on.

+++

May 16, 2005
A Battle Over Programming at National Public Radio
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, May 15 - Executives at National Public Radio are increasingly at odds with the Bush appointees who lead the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In one of several points of conflict in recent months, the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates federal funds for public radio and television, is considering a plan to monitor Middle East coverage on NPR news programs for evidence of bias, a corporation spokesman said on Friday.

The corporation's board has told its staff that it should consider redirecting money away from national newscasts and toward music programs produced by NPR stations.

Top officials at NPR and member stations are upset as well about the corporation's decision to appoint two ombudsmen to judge the content of programs for balance. And managers of public radio stations criticized the corporation in a resolution offered at their annual meeting two weeks ago urging it not to interfere in NPR editorial decisions.

The corporation's chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, has also blocked NPR from broadcasting its programs on a station in Berlin owned by the United States government.

Mr. Tomlinson denied several requests last week to discuss the relationship between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR, but he issued a one-sentence statement saying that he looked forward to "working through any differences that may exist between our institutions." In a column last week in The Washington Times and in an appearance on Tucker Carlson's talk show on PBS, he repeated his belief that public broadcasting's reputation of being left-leaning was a problem.

Mr. Tomlinson has been waging a campaign to correct what he and other conservatives see as a liberal bias in public television programming. That effort has been criticized by leaders of public television who say it poses a threat to their editorial independence. At the request of two senior Democratic members of Congress, the inspector general at the corporation is examining whether Mr. Tomlinson's decision to monitor only one television program, "Now," with Bill Moyers, and his decision to retain a White House official who helped create guidelines for the two ombudsmen may have violated a law that is supposed to insulate public broadcasting from politics.

But the law also assigns the corporation the responsibility of ensuring balance and objectivity in programming, a function that Mr. Tomlinson says is of paramount importance for the sustained viability and political support of public broadcasting.

About a quarter of the corporation's $400 million budget goes to radio, with most of the rest to television. NPR recently received a huge bequest from the estate of Joan B. Kroc, the widow of the founder of McDonald's, and it gets only about 1 percent of its overall funds directly from the corporation. But its member stations are far more reliant on the corporation's money, and they use a significant part of that to buy programs produced by NPR and others.

Last month, the corporation's board, which is dominated by Republicans named by President Bush, told the staff at a meeting that it should prepare to redirect the relatively modest number of grants available for radio programs away from national news, officials at the corporation and NPR said.

"We heard sentiments from the board that they are interested in support of more music," said Vincent Curran, a senior vice president in charge of the radio division. He said that the board had made no final decisions on funds.

Participants in that meeting said there was a brief discussion by board members in which one of them, Gay Hart Gaines, talked about the need to change programming in light of a conversation she had had with a taxi driver about his listening habits. Ms. Gaines, a Republican fund-raiser and the head of the political action committee of Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, did not return a call to her office seeking comment.

In recent years, the corporation has provided funds for NPR programs like "The Tavis Smiley Show" and "Day to Day." A third NPR program, "News and Notes," recently applied for money. Mr. Tomlinson has told some board members that the corporation would no longer provide funds for "Weekend America," a public affairs program produced by Minnesota Public Radio, people briefed on those discussions said.

Over the objections of senior NPR executives, the corporation decided in April to appoint the two ombudsmen to monitor radio and television content. At a meeting in February, Kevin Klose, NPR's president, was told by Mr. Tomlinson that the corporation would have a liberal ombudsman and a conservative one, participants in the meeting said. They said Mr. Klose told Mr. Tomlinson that this idea showed a fundamental misunderstanding of both journalism and the role of an ombudsman.

NPR has had its own ombudsman for the last five years, and executives there say they are concerned that having two at the agency that provides funds for programs could lead to editorial interference.

The resolution from representatives of public radio stations that was presented at the recent meeting in Washington denounced the move, and called on the corporation to "refrain from interfering in constitutionally protected content decisions" and to act as a firewall to insulate public broadcasting from politics. The lack of a quorum prevented a vote on the resolution, but a poll of the more than 80 people there showed unanimous support for it.

Late last year, without notifying board members or NPR, Mr. Tomlinson contacted S. Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a research group, about conducting a study on whether NPR's Middle East coverage was more favorable to Arabs than to Israelis, Mr. Lichter said. He added that although there were follow-up conversations as recently as February, officials at the corporation had not moved ahead with the project.

A spokesman for the corporation, Eben Peck, said it had not decided how it would monitor coverage of the Middle East on NPR.

"We're still assessing and looking at various methodologies that would allow an assessment of NPR's Middle East coverage," Mr. Peck said.

Other officials said Mr. Tomlinson had heard complaints about the coverage from a board member, Cheryl Halpern, a former chairwoman of the Republican Jewish Coalition and leading party fund-raiser whose family has business interests in Israel. The corporation has also heard complaints from Representative Brad Sherman, Democrat of California.

Besides his role at the corporation, Mr. Tomlinson heads the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which supervises most United States government broadcasts overseas, including those of the Voice of America. He has continued the policy of his predecessors on that board of blocking NPR from putting its programs on a Berlin station that the German government gave to the United States in the early 1990's after reunification. NPR, which has a significant presence overseas, has long sought to enter Berlin, the largest radio market in Western Europe.

Mr. Tomlinson has instead favored programming offered by a European business executive that includes newscasts produced by the Voice of America, which is restricted by law from broadcasting in English in most European countries. German regulators are considering the two options.

In a 2003 letter to Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Tomlinson suggested that it would further the national interest to use the station to broadcast programs by Voice of America rather than NPR.

Some NPR officials suggest that Mr. Tomlinson has a conflict of interest as the head of both the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

"It certainly calls into question where his allegiance lies," said Tim Eby, chairman of NPR and manager of the public radio stations run by Ohio State University in Columbus.

Mr. Peck, the corporation spokesman, said Mr. Tomlinson "does not think there is a conflict of interest."

In an interview last week, Mr. Eby said NPR executives had been particularly worried because they were not getting full information about what had been happening at the corporation.

"Everybody has been concerned in a lot of ways because there's been a real lack of transparency about what's been going on there," he said.

[BFrank]

Published on Monday, May 16, 2005 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Speech at Conference Assails Right Wing
by Michael Sorkin

Bill Moyers denounced on Sunday the right wing and top officials at the White House, saying they are trying to silence their critics by controlling the news media.

He also took aim at reporters who become little more than willing government "stenographers." And he said the public increasingly is content with just enough news to confirm its own biases.

Moyers spoke in St. Louis at a conference on media reform. His reports have appeared on the Public Broadcasting System since the 1970s. He was an aide to President Lyndon Johnson and is a former newspaper publisher.

Moyers said those in power - government officials and their allies in the media - mean to stay there by punishing journalists "who tell the stories that make princes and priests uncomfortable."

Moyers described those officials as "obsessed with control" of the media. He said they are using the government "to threaten and intimidate."

Moyers answered for the first time recent charges that public television in general and he in particular have become too liberal.

Those charges are from Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and, in effect, Moyers' boss at the network.

Tomlinson, a Republican, paid an outside consultant $10,000 to keep track of the political leanings of guests on Moyers' show, "Now." Moyers left the show last year but is back on public television as host of the series "Wide Angle."

Tomlinson, on the recommendation of administration officials, hired a senior White House aide to draw up guidelines to review the content of public radio and television broadcasts, according to a report in The New York Times on May 2.

Tomlinson has denied that he was carrying out a White House mandate.

Tomlinson complained that Moyers' show was consistently critical of Republicans and the Bush administration. He said there was a "tone deafness" at PBS headquarters on issues of "tone and balance."

Moyers said he knew his broadcasts have created a backlash in Washington.

"The more compelling our journalism, the angrier became the radical right of the Republican Party," he said.

"That's because the one thing they loath more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Moyers' speech was interrupted by standing ovations at the Conference for Media Reform here over the weekend. More than 2,500 people attended the three-day conference.

Ernest Wilson III serves with Tomlinson on the board that oversees public broadcasting. He said PBS outranks the Fox News Channel, CNN and all the broadcast news networks in a survey that asked whom the public trusts.

"We are, by far, the most 'fair and balanced,'" he said, a reference to the motto of Fox News.

Moyers complained that PBS' "liberal" label is undeserved.

"In contrast to the conservative mantra that public television routinely features the voices of establishment critics," he said, alternative voices on public television are rare and usually drowned out by government and corporate views.

Moyers said that's exactly what the right wing wants.

"They want your reporting to validate their belief system, and when it doesn't God forbid."

He said he always thought that the American eagle needed both a left wing and a right wing. "But with two right wings, or two left wings, it's no longer an eagle, and it's going to crash."

Moyers said right wingers had attacked him after he closed a broadcast by placing a flag in his lapel.

It was the first time that he had worn a flag. He said he put it on to remind himself that "not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us."

"The flag has been hijacked and turned into a logo, a trademark of a monopoly on patriotism," Moyers said.

Moyers had harsh words for reporters who simply recount what officials say, without scrutinizing what they say and do.

He said New York Times correspondent Judith Miller, among other reporters, had relied on official but unnamed sources "when she served essentially as the government's stenographer for claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction."

Moyers said he has come to understand that "news is what people want to keep hidden and everything else is publicity."

He said that kind of reporting has never been tougher to do:

"Without a trace of irony, the powers that be have appropriated the news speak vernacular of George Orwell's '1984,' giving us a program, no child will be left behind, while cutting funds for educating disadvantaged children.

"They give us legislation calling for clear skies and healthy forests" while "turning over public lands to the energy industry."

He said the public shares the blame:

"An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda is less inclined to put up a fight - ask questions and be skeptical."

Moyers compared Tomlinson and other conservatives to Richard Nixon, who he said was another president who tried to take control of public television.

"I always knew Nixon would be back," Moyers said. "I just didn't know that this time he would ask to be chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."

Moyers was a last-minute addition to the conference. He finished writing his hourlong speech 20 minutes before he spoke. His ending was nearly drowned out by a blaring fire alarm that went off by mistake.

The conference ended Sunday, and some who attended said they were still unsure what reforming the media means. Others said they were energized to go home and give it a try.

"It's true that no one laid out a battle plan," said Mercedes Lynn DeUriarte, an associate journalism professor from the University of Texas at Austin. "But everybody left understanding that we're at a critical point, where we must find a way to protect a democratic press or risk democracy."

© Copyright 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[kedoane]

This is very chilling for me, to see the government getting into saying what can or can't air on PBS stations. A while back the folks in Washington were not too thrilled about a "Buster" show showing 2 lesbians running a farm. Fortunately KQED did air this show.

"That's because the one thing they loath more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..............................

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..................

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....




Moyers is an absolute PEACH!!!!!

[BFrank]

Moyers' speech can be seen, heard, printed or read -> HERE

Originally Posted by kedoane

A while back the folks in Washington were not too thrilled about a "Buster" show showing 2 lesbians running a farm. Fortunately KQED did air this show.

Oh my.

What a frightening story!

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..............................

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Moyers is an absolute PEACH!!!!!

You're so cute, Dolan ...

[Root Doctor]

Scott only watches PBS for the Lawrence Welk reruns.

Thanks, Beefy............

Originally Posted by Root Doctor

Scott only watches PBS for the Lawrence Welk reruns.

Actually, I used to watch it for The Victory Garden as well. But ever since Roger left the show, I have found it simply unwatchable. That new guy really grinds my ass.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

PBS and NPR have a major problem. They need government funding and "corporate contributions".

'Nuff said.

[BFrank]

You've NEVER watched Austin City Limits?

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

PBS and NPR have a major problem. They need government funding and "corporate contributions".

'Nuff said.

"... and viewers like you."

Originally Posted by BFrank

You've NEVER watched Austin City Limits?

D'oh!!! Yes, of course. Depending who's on.

Forgot all about that one.

OH!!!

And the Red Green Show!!!! Top notch shit there, folks!!!

Originally Posted by BFrank

"... and viewers like you."

Yes, with those ceaseless fund raisers every goddamn weekend.

BAH!!!!!

Fuck PBS!!!

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Yes, with those ceaseless fund raisers every goddamn weekend.

BAH!!!!!

Fuck PBS!!!

Every weekend???!!!
THAT'S pretty bush.........er, I mean, crappy.

MUCH better to watch regular TV with 20 minutes of commercials every hour.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Both NPR stations in the DC area are having fund raisers as we speak. Along with the Pacifica station. There's a rumor that the DC area is recession-proof. These guys are trying to prove it.

I like the mystery shows on PBS. Especially the ones with Helen Mirren in them. After all these years I find her... "enteresting".

Originally Posted by BFrank

Every weekend???!!!
THAT'S pretty bush.........er, I mean, crappy.

MUCH better to watch regular TV with 20 minutes of commercials every hour.

What's the difference?

A half hour Red Green Show ends up being an hour and a half begining to end because every ten minutes two half heads stroll about the bank of phones spouting cringe worthy banter, telling jokes that my 5 year old won't even laugh at, and telling me how important my contributions are. Rinse and repeat for the next TWENTY FUCKING MINUTES!!!!!

[BFrank]

Well, if they do that ALL year, then that station has a problem. If it's only during occasional pledge weeks, then that's the trade-off you get for otherwise not having commercials.

My suggestion: Stick with TV Land, you'll be much happier.

Andy Griffith, baby!!!

[BFrank]

[Edit - this is just about the same thing]

Beefy's busted stillin'!!!!!!!!

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

PBS and NPR have a major problem. They need government funding and "corporate contributions".

'Nuff said.

NPR recently got gifted a huge amount of money by the Ford Foundation, I think. And then McDonalds' widow, Mrs. Kroc, left NPR an enormous, unprecedented contribution when she died. Enough to pay the bills and keep some income-generating principle in trust for a long, long time. But that is the DC-centered NPR hq, not the nationwide stations. But NPR has vibrant programming and I am sure they could survive in the marketplace if they tried to.

PBS is probably in greater trouble since the expenses are more and the competition is furious and the costs are greater and especially since the PBS product is weak at best. Tepid. Lame. Dull. PBS's time has come and gone. PBS depends a lot more on government money than NPR does: kill it. And kill Bill Moyers, too.

Originally Posted by Satan

But NPR has vibrant programming and I am sure they could survive in the marketplace if they tried to.

*chortle*

*snort snort*

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

*chortle*

*snort snort*

You certainly have a way with words, Dolan.

Originally Posted by BFrank

You certainly have a way with words, Dolan.

*snort snort*

*chortle*

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by BFrank

"An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda is less inclined to put up a fight - ask questions and be skeptical."

Amen, Brother Moyers!

Having worked at WGBH for four years, writing grants and marketing materials trying to get Corporate America to shell out for intelligent programming like Nova, The American Experience, and Mystery!, I understand quite well the challenges that the CPB face. Both the UK and Japan spend many times more per citizen than the US does for its public broadcasting services. The UK directs a portion from the sale of every TV to the BBC, thus keeping the government out of it.

Meanwhile, the old saw that PBS is no longer needed in the age of cable has been proven false because cable channels like A&E and Bravo are competing for the network audience with decidedly low brow programming like The Knievels, while the best programs on History Channel and Discovery are actually old American Experience and Nova programs they bought the rebroadcast rights to.

Frontline alone makes PBS indispensible, but add in the children's shows, the documentaries, specials (there's a neat program on the country music Carter family showing now) and their strong outreach to schools, and you have to realize that no other broadcasting entity performs anywhere near the level of positive public service. (And remember, back in 1975, who else but PBS would've introduced Monty Python to America?) If the CPB could be better funded, PBS wouldn't need all the pledge periods and lame concerts by MOR hacks and 60s acts who haven't worked regularly since 1974. Member turnover is a huge problem; a large percentage of those who become members in order to get an Are You Being Served tote bag don't renew the following year.

PBS ain't perfect, but look at the alternative. And if the Bush Admin has problems with it, then it must be worthwhile.

[clinthopson]

GG, I agree with some of what you write, but IMHO PBS caved into the corporate sponsors long ago and became very cowardly in what they broadcast. What's the last time they did anything that wasn't pretty damned safe?

They may well become more and more irrelevant as cable and sattelite channels proliferate.

Their claims of being commercial free is plain bullshit when probably 10+ minutes out of every broadcast hour are filled with "image" spots for sponsors and hype for upcoming shows.

We quit contributing to PBS several years ago because of the ills you describe and now we've pulled the plug on KKJZ becaus of their watering down of their programming, constant "sweepstakes," exhorbitant salaries to station management and incompetent announcers.

[GoodSpeak]

Well....if Bush and his bully boyz can pressure Newsweek in to making a retraction and the radical dipwads can keep a Ray-gun movie from airing....PBS can't be far behind.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by GoodSpeak

Well....if Bush and his bully boyz can pressure Newsweek in to making a retraction....

You think Newsweek should have stuck to their guns on that one, huh, Goody? That's an interesting take on the matter.