Public broadcasting ex-head targeted in report

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The former chairman of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, who drew fire for his
conservative views, used “political tests” to recruit a new
board president, 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.

Three media watchdog groups — Free Press, the Center for
Digital Democracy and Common Cause — called for Harrison to
resign after the inspectors’ report was released, but she said
she had no plans to do so.

“I am very pleased that this entire board has issued a
statement affirming their confidence in my leadership,”
Harrison told reporters. “… We’ve got a lot of work to do,
but we’ve got a lot of people now who are all unified in a
commitment to this mission … Why would I resign?”

The CPB board said in a statement it would make changes
designed to make it more accountable and open, and among other
things, keep it insulated from “undue political influence.”

The report, signed by inspector general Kenneth Konz, 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.

POLITICAL TESTS

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 legislation, which was
defeated, would have required more broadcasters on 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.

The corporation’s statutes explicitly bar use of any
“political test or qualification” in making personnel choices.

Tomlinson also 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.

Congressional Democrats, who called for the inspector
general’s investigation in May, said in a statement the report
showed Tomlinson violated statutory provisions in his attempts
to “push a Republican agenda on public broadcasting.”

“The CPB is a revered institution,” Rep. Henry Waxman, a
Californian who is the ranking Democrat on the House Government
Reform Committee. “(Presidential adviser) Karl Rove and the
Bush administration may not like the objective reporting heard
on public television and radio but that’s no justification for
Mr. Tomlinson’s crude attempt at political interference
disclosed by the IG.”

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.