PBS: Making it Fair and Balanced
The Democrats are all uptight about the announcement of a (cough) Republican to lead the Public Broadcasting Service. They are coming out of their caves in droves…attacking the new President of PBS, attacking
Congress for approving this as well as reinstating money to the organization.
WASHINGTON, June 23 - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting on Thursday appointed Patricia S. Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, to be its next president and chief executive.
In acting, the corporation board brushed aside concerns from many public television and radio stations and Democratic lawmakers that choosing Ms. Harrison threatened to inject partisanship into an organization that is supposed to shield public broadcasting from political pressures.
Later on Thursday, the Republican-controlled House, by a vote of 284 to 140, approved a measure to restore $100 million that had been cut from the corporation’s $400 million budget last week by the House Appropriations Committee.
A key word here is that PBS is supposed to be for the PUBLIC. Not for POLITICS. Unfortunately, politics has taken over the programming. PBS is well known for it’s liberal slant, and it’s about time someone did something to add some balance.
The selection of Ms. Harrison comes at a time of political strife over the direction of public broadcasting. The corporation’s chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, has taken steps to correct what he and conservative critics see as liberal bias. Television and radio executives have responded by accusing Mr. Tomlinson of threatening their editorial independence.
No one is threatening anyone’s editorial independence. This is a typical scream theme reaction by liberals who have had control of the media for so long. They are slowly starting to lose this control. I guess I can’t be surprised by their reaction.
Among the Democratic critics were Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of New York, and Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota.
“I think this is a huge mistake,” Mr. Dorgan said in an interview. “My sense is that this is going to do real injury to public broadcasting.”
Mr. Schumer said the decision “to turn PBS into a political mouthpiece is disgraceful and contrary to its years of distinguished public service.”
Sorry Mr. Schumer…where have you been? People tend to lose their ability to be objective when they surround themselves with like minded people. It’s called Group Think and the Dems have a bad case of it. They refuse to even consider that the media is biased because they all have the same ideals and values. There is nothing wrong with this, except when others have a differing point of view…they get attacked. The liberals act all shocked and awed and go into panic mode.
This isn’t NEWS to anyone who has been staying on top of PBS issues.
The selection of Ms. Harrison was not unexpected; Mr. Tomlinson said in an interview in April that she was his top choice. Scores of stations around the nation, as well as some Democratic members of Congress, urged the board to find another candidate, particularly in light of decisions by Mr. Tomlinson that are now under investigation by the inspector general of the corporation.
Investigators are looking at Mr. Tomlinson’s decision to retain a consultant to monitor the political leanings on the “Now” show with Bill Moyers, his decision to retain two Republican lobbyists last year and his use of a White House official to set up an corporation office of ombudsman that is supposed to judge the political balance and objectivity of shows on public television and radio.
No Comments »
