PBS to Get the "Fair and Balanced" Treatment
From Kate Mewhiney
The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is claiming that PBS has a "liberal bias" and is insisting that the station change some of its content.
It was recently revealed that CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson contracted an outside consultant to track the political leanings of the guests appearing on the program "Now with Bill Moyers," without telling the other members of the board.
Tomlinson says he just wants balance on the network and does not want to impose any political view on PBS. However, at a gathering with The Association of Public Television Stations in Baltimore last November, Tomlinson told the audience they should make sure their programming better reflected the Republican Mandate. Tomlinson later said he was joking, but given his recent actions, the remarks are too close to the truth to be taken lightly.
Tomlinson has been instrumental in the production and distribution of a new PBS show, "The Journal Editorial Report," with host Paul Gigot, the editor of the conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. Tomlinson says the show is to balance out "Now with David Brancaccio." Brancaccio took over the show when Moyers stepped down last year.
In the past PBS has been given the freedom to regulate itself, but now the corporation is holding PBS more strictly to its charter, which has a mandate that requires "objectivity and balance" in its programming. Recently, the corporation, and the Bush administration, have taken a much more hands-on approach. Earlier this year, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings challenged PBS for airing an episode of "Postcards from Buster" in which the cartoon rabbit visited a child being raised by lesbian parents.
Keeping PBS to its standards of objectivity and balance is one thing, but taking editorial control of a public television station is another thing entirely. With the precedent Tomlinson set with his covert content review of Moyers, he and the board could easily begin demanding that every show fit their standards of objectivity. This would be a dangerous infringement on the station's First Amendment rights.
And Tomlinson has a pretty skewed idea of what balanced is. Though the findings of his contractor's report-findings that Tomlinson alone reviewed-found a liberal slant to the guests on "Now," Moyers did have conservatives appear on the show, like former head of the Christian Coalition Ralph Reed, and Richard Viguerie, a conservative political strategist.
Tomlinson's project will not even pretend to be objective. "The Journal Editorial Report" features the ultra-conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Tomlinson's response to a show that he sees as too liberal, despite its inclusion of conservative viewpoints, is to create a show that is made up of only conservative voices. It seems like Tomlinson needs to read the PBS mandate on "objective and balanced" programming a little more carefully.
The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is claiming that PBS has a "liberal bias" and is insisting that the station change some of its content.
It was recently revealed that CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson contracted an outside consultant to track the political leanings of the guests appearing on the program "Now with Bill Moyers," without telling the other members of the board.
Tomlinson says he just wants balance on the network and does not want to impose any political view on PBS. However, at a gathering with The Association of Public Television Stations in Baltimore last November, Tomlinson told the audience they should make sure their programming better reflected the Republican Mandate. Tomlinson later said he was joking, but given his recent actions, the remarks are too close to the truth to be taken lightly.
Tomlinson has been instrumental in the production and distribution of a new PBS show, "The Journal Editorial Report," with host Paul Gigot, the editor of the conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. Tomlinson says the show is to balance out "Now with David Brancaccio." Brancaccio took over the show when Moyers stepped down last year.
In the past PBS has been given the freedom to regulate itself, but now the corporation is holding PBS more strictly to its charter, which has a mandate that requires "objectivity and balance" in its programming. Recently, the corporation, and the Bush administration, have taken a much more hands-on approach. Earlier this year, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings challenged PBS for airing an episode of "Postcards from Buster" in which the cartoon rabbit visited a child being raised by lesbian parents.
Keeping PBS to its standards of objectivity and balance is one thing, but taking editorial control of a public television station is another thing entirely. With the precedent Tomlinson set with his covert content review of Moyers, he and the board could easily begin demanding that every show fit their standards of objectivity. This would be a dangerous infringement on the station's First Amendment rights.
And Tomlinson has a pretty skewed idea of what balanced is. Though the findings of his contractor's report-findings that Tomlinson alone reviewed-found a liberal slant to the guests on "Now," Moyers did have conservatives appear on the show, like former head of the Christian Coalition Ralph Reed, and Richard Viguerie, a conservative political strategist.
Tomlinson's project will not even pretend to be objective. "The Journal Editorial Report" features the ultra-conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Tomlinson's response to a show that he sees as too liberal, despite its inclusion of conservative viewpoints, is to create a show that is made up of only conservative voices. It seems like Tomlinson needs to read the PBS mandate on "objective and balanced" programming a little more carefully.
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