Former Public Broadcasting chief made farce of fair-minded TV

Nov. 19, 2005, 12:44AM

MANHANDLED MEDIA
Former Public Broadcasting chief made farce of fair-minded TV
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Over the past five years, an imposter employed by right-wing political groups became an accredited White House reporter; columnist Armstrong Williams took U.S. Education Department payola to shill administration policies; and several federal agencies were revealed to have supplied fake news segments to TV stations.

Now Tomlinson, the ousted chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, stars in his own scandal: A report by CPB's inspector general shows he violated federal law in a quest to give public broadcasting a different political slant. In his zeal to balance what he called liberal bias, the report said, Tomlinson applied illegal "political tests" to hire a Republican corporation president, ignored the board when making hires and threatened sanctions that only Congress could levy if PBS did not alter its programming.

Tomlinson denied any misconduct, complaining that the report reflects "politics over good judgement." Then again, Tomlinson also told the Los Angeles Times last May he had "absolutely no contact from anyone at the White House saying we need to do this or that with public broadcasting." This week, investigator Kenneth A. Konz reported that Tomlinson repeatedly swapped e-mails with White House officials, including Karl Rove, about hires. One of the candidates they discussed became CPB president.

Originally hired by President Bill Clinton, Tomlinson, a Republican, enraged many in the public broadcasting system with his secretive war against what he perceived as its liberal bias. He replaced the CPB's longtime president with a former Republican Party chair, secretly hired a consultant to study if PBS public affairs shows were too liberal and hired a White House functionary to craft guidelines for a new PBS ombudsman. The resulting outcry led to calls for an investigation.
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3471122
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