CPB's Tomlinson Comes Under Fire For Secretly Monitoring Political Content

The head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, came under fire from a Senate panel Monday for his decision to secretly monitor public television and radio programs, and about other controversial moves that have led to calls for his resignation.

The nearly two-hour exchange was the first time Tomlinson was directly questioned about recent allegations regarding his 22-month tenure as chairman.

Republican Senator of Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter, scheduled the hearing to discuss funding for the corporation, which provides federal money to public broadcasters. Under its mandate from Congress, the CPB is required to act as an independent buffer between lawmakers and public broadcasters. But under Tomlinson's leadership, accusations have grown of an increasing politicization at the CPB.

Last year, Tomlinson secretly paid more than $14,000 to an outside consultant, to monitor the political content of the guests on the PBS program NOW with Bill Moyers. The consultant, Fred Mann, worked for the American Conservative Union for many years. Mann also monitored National Public Radio's "The Diane Rehm Show" and the PBS talk shows "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered" and "Tavis Smiley." Politicians and journalists who expressed opinions critical of the Bush administration were dubbed liberal or anti-Bush.

NPR has reported they had obtained emails from a CPB official that showed that Tomlinson had conferred with the White House in hiring decisions and in shaping policy at the corporation. The CPB's most recent hire is Patricia Harrison, who began her job as chief executive of the CPB last week. Harrison was a high-ranking official at the State Department. From 1997 until January 2001, she was co-chair of the RNC, helping to raise money for Republican candidates, including George W. Bush.

In her first public appearance since she began the job last week, Harrison sought to assure the subcommittee that her partisan background would not affect her performance as CEO. She said, "I feel confident that I'm a fair person, that I have a great deal of integrity and that nobody owns me, ever." PBS President Pat Mitchell and John Lawson, president of the Association of Public Television Stations also testified at Monday's hearing along with David Boaz of the libertarian Cato Institute.

The sharpest questioning of Tomlinson yesterday came from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate. He was one of sixteen senators who signed a letter calling on Tomlinson to resign. This is an excerpt of the exchange.

* Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioning CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson, Senate subcommittee hearing, July 11, 2005.

LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/12/1411209