CPB Taps Two GOP Conservatives for Top Posts

A leading Republican donor and fundraiser was elected chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting yesterday, tightening conservative control over the agency that oversees National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.

Cheryl F. Halpern, a New Jersey lawyer and real estate developer, won approval from the CPB's board. She succeeds a close board ally, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, who stirred controversy earlier this year by contending that public broadcasting favors liberal views. Tomlinson's term as chairman had expired, but he will remain a member of the board.

The board also elected another conservative, Gay Hart Gaines, as its vice chairman. Gaines, an interior decorator by training, was a charter member and a chairman of GOPAC, a Republican fundraising group that then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) used to engineer the GOP takeover of the House in 1994.

With the changes, conservatives with close ties to the Bush administration have assumed control of every important position at the agency, which distributes about $400 million in federal funds to noncommercial radio and TV stations and is supposed to act as a buffer against outside political influence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601598_pf.html

...after working on, if I remember right, All Things Considered. No reason given on the short farewell from the host.

Anyone heard about any reasons for resigning? I suppose it *could* have been to pursue something with higher pay at another network, but I have to wonder if there was some pressure...

And I loved this.

"...and is supposed to act as a buffer against outside political influence."

With this group? There is no other type of influence.

Get ready for The American Experience's penetrating look at the life of Ayn Rand. Or how about, Frontline:Ronald Reagan, Savior or God? I can't wait for the next Ken Burns mega-documentary, Newt Gingrich, American Cicero.

I guess it makes sense, considering that this is Bizzaro World.

... be concerned with their professions.

What is of concern is that are both high-dollar contributors to the `pugs and bring certain, shall we say, unenlightened political philosophies to that board. They'll do anything the White House wants.

When Nixon tried to wreck public broadcasting (because it hadn't been nice to him over the years--and had committed the unpardonable sin of broadcasting every single minute of the Watergate hearings live), the CPB board stopped him from doing so. These people will, instead, work for public broadcasting's marginalization.

The real problem with these people is not their profession, but rather, their avocation--fatcat Republican politics.

I would prefer that, no matter what someone's political affiliation, they have some experience in broadcasting, journalism and/or a related field. But, even if they were highly experienced in these fields, their stances inregards to the GOP would bother me a great deal.

Damn. That's fun to watch, too.