PBS ex-chief motivated by
politics
Yahoo News/Reuters
November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former chairman of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting appeared to have been motivated by politics in recruiting a new
board president, the corporation's inspectors reported on Tuesday.
Their report into the activities of Kenneth Tomlinson said "cryptic" e-mails
between Tomlinson and the White House indicated by their timing and subject
matter that Tomlinson "was strongly motivated by political considerations in
filling the president/CEO position."
A former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, Patricia Harrison,
was named to the post.
The report also found that Tomlinson, a conservative who resigned from the
board earlier this month, erred when he failed to tell the board that he was
hiring a consultant to review program content for objectivity and balance.
It also said Tomlinson did not follow proper procedures when he hired
lobbyists to help deal with legislation to change the composition of the
board.
The inspectors' report was prompted by media reports that Tomlinson and the
board were making personnel decisions based on political ideology, criticism
that was heightened after Harrison was named to head the board in June.
Tomlinson sought to add more conservative-minded shows to the line-up to
counter what many conservatives considered a liberal bias in public
broadcasting.
"While our review found no evidence that personnel decisions were based
solely on 'political tests,' we did find evidence that politics may have
influenced some decisions," the inspectors wrote.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a federally funded nonprofit
corporation and the largest single source of money for U.S. public television
and radio programming, including PBS and National Public Radio. It is governed
by a presidentially appointed board.
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