Public broadcasting ex-chief targeted in report

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.