Ask CPB Chairman Tomlinson to Stop Playing Politics with Public Broadcasting
Is it just us or does Kenneth Tomlinson
look a lot like Lon Chaney’s Wolfman?
The Republican-appointed head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, is on a campaign to end “liberal bias” at NPR and PBS. Clearly, this self-proclaimed conservative has no bias of his own. Before the appointment, he was the editor-in-chief of the reactionary geriatric staple known Reader’s Digest. If you haven’t read it lately, it’s ultraconservative politically and the journalistic equivalent of Family Circus. Before that, he was director of the Voice of America in the Reagan administration.
CommonCause.org has put together a petition to:
* Stop efforts to influence programming decisions at National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
* Eliminate the two ombudsman positions recently created to evaluate and critique public broadcasting programs for bias. This is an inappropriate role for the CPB and is contrary to its mission of serving as a “heat shield” to protect public broadcasting from political influence.
* Support the appointment of board members to the CPB who have demonstrated expertise and commitment to public broadcasting as opposed to the current system, which favors the appointment of partisans.
* Publicly assure journalists working for public broadcasting that they can conduct fact based investigative reporting critical of government without fear of reprisals.
Click here to sign the petition
