Right-wing Coup at PBS?

By Rory O'Connor, AlterNet. Posted May 3, 2005.

Is Pat Mitchell the Martin Niemoller of public television?

You may recognize this quote from the Lutheran anti-Nazi activist, who formed a resistance movement and was then arrested and spent years in prison for his beliefs:

"First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me."

The ongoing conservative coup at the quasi-governmental Corporation for Public Broadcasting seems to have come at last for lame duck PBS president and CEO Mitchell. The evidence is everywhere, as detailed recently in articles in such mainstream mouthpieces as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Mitchell is being publicly criticized as "tone deaf" by CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson, after having been "jokingly" told by him to ensure that PBS programming better reflect a Republican "mandate."

Meanwhile, as the Post noted (in an April 22 article "PBS Scrutiny Raises Political Antennas" by Paul Farhi):

"Liberal commentator Bill Moyers is out on PBS stations. Buster the animated rabbit is under a cloud of suspicion. And right-wing yakkers from the Wall Street Journal editorial page have been handed their own public television chat show."

In addition, CPB officials recently appointed for the first time in history two "ombudsmen" to review PBS news and public affairs programs (such as the award-winning "Frontline" and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer") for evidence of bias -- without bothering to inform Mitchell. They also insisted for the first time on tying new federal funding (CPB provides nearly $30 million annually to PBS) to an agreement that commits PBS to strict "objectivity and balance" in each of its programs -- something that, according to the PBS general counsel, amounts to: "government encroachment on and supervision of program content, potentially in violation of the First Amendment." And recently Ken Ferree, a top Republican operative and former FCC media bureau chief under Chairman Michael Powell, was named as an interim replacement for CPB chief executive Kathleen Cox. Ferree is meant to keep the seat warm until Tomlinson's choice for the post -- Assistant Secretary of State (and former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee) Patricia Harrison -- receives approval from CPB's board members, many of whom have been appointed by President Bush.

"We don't want to be alarmist, but I would be less than honest if I said there wasn't concern here," one senior executive at PBS, who insisted on anonymity because CPB provides about 10 percent of its annual budget,' told the Post. "When you put it all together, a pattern starts to emerge."

A week and a half later, Mitchell went on the record, telling The New York Times "I do think there have been instances of attempts to influence content from a political perspective that I do not consider appropriate."

Among the attempts cited by the Times: the hidden hiring of a consultant by CPB Board Chairman Ken Tomlinson to "review" the content of "NOW with Bill Moyers"; Tomlinson's assistance in lining up $5 million in corporate financing and subsequent PBS distribution of "The Journal Editorial Report," the weekly chat show featuring members of the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal; his penchant for involving the White House in matters ranging from legislation affecting the CPB board to addressing concerns about "objectivity and balance;" all the way to remarks at a "fun occasion" -- a post-election meeting last November -- when Tomlinson told PBS officials, including Mitchell, that they ought to make sure their programming better reflected the Republican "mandate."

"I was in that room," Mitchell told the Times. "I was surprised by the comment. I thought it was inappropriate."

An unnamed senior FCC official went further, however, telling The Washington Post that CPB under Tomlinson "is engaged in a systematic effort not just to sanitize the truth, but to impose a right-wing agenda on PBS. It's almost like a right-wing coup. It appears to be orchestrated."

Ken Tomlinson dismisses such concerns, however, as "paranoia," telling the Post that his critics should simply "grow up," remarking in the Times, "I frankly feel at PBS headquarters that there is a tone deafness to issues of tone and balance."

This and other articles by Rory O'Connor are available on his blog.

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