Exhuming McCarthy [UPDATE]

If you don't think the death of PBS funding is an important issue,
this transcript from NewsHour may give you some perspective.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private nonprofit agency created and funded by Congress. This year it distributed $387 million in federal dollars to PBS, NPR, hundreds of public radio and TV stations around the nation, and some individual programs.

In recent months, Tomlinson's words and deeds have stirred up strong responses. Bill Moyers spoke in Washington.

BILL MOYERS: It's not a duel between Kenneth Tomlinson and Bill Moyers. It's a duel between government and journalism. If he is going to remain as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, he's got to keep his cotton-picking hands off the programming.

more after the jump...

Thank goodness for Pat Mitchell, PBS President, and the voice of reason:

PAT MITCHELL: Our responsibility is to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. We cannot afford, quite literally, to engage in destructive allegations based on personal perceptions clearly not shared by the growing number of listeners to NPR and the growing number of viewers of PBS.

This story goes on to interview Bill Reed, president of KCPT, a public television station in Kansas City, and George Neumayr, executive editor of the American Spectator Magazine. Neumayr seems to be your basic "conservative" talking head, while Bill Reed addresses the real issues. Example:

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Mr. Tomlinson has not politicized PBS. Bill Moyers politicized PBS. The liberals have been politicizing PBS from 1967. This is a ridiculous smear against Ken Tomlinson for simply doing his job.

It is his job; it is his duty as the chairman for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to ensure philosophical balance in programming that is financed by all Americans. This programming is not simply -- it's not supposed to be the personal playhouse of the left wing in this country. It's not supposed to simply be a perk for coastal elites.

And Mr. Tomlinson is reflecting the views and values of the majority who voted George Bush into office, and I think it's entirely reasonable for him to correct long-standing liberal prejudices and biases that have gone unchecked and unchallenged for way too long.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Reed, doesn't Mr. Tomlinson have the right in his role to speak out, if he sees this?

BILL REED: Sure, but here he's speaking out after all the polls done by his own organization show overwhelmingly that the American public does not think there's bias in public television programming. And I have to ask, you know, during all those years that William F. Buckley was on the air, and matter of fact, Pat Buchanan is on my air every week, and so is Tony Blakely from the Washington Times every week stating their views, does that make us now suddenly a conservative-oriented public broadcasting? This is absurd to single out one program --

Bill Reed goes on to discuss the value of Public Broadcasting, including all the children's programming, while George Neumayr can't seem to stop talking about Bill Moyers, who is no longer on PBS. Neumayr seems to think that balance in the overall programming schedule isn't enough or isn't as important as balance in each individual program.

Please read the transcript. It will add fuel to your fire to get out there and do something about saving PBS funding and saving the balance in programming. Update [2005-6-22 14:42:9 by rioduran]: Also be sure to check out this diary to read more about how Tomlinson has abused his office in many ways, including hiring a researcher to monitor the political leanings of guests on the public policy program “Now,” the use of a White House official to set up an ombudsman’s office to scrutinize public radio and television programs for political balance, and payments approved by Mr. Tomlinson to two Republican lobbyists last year. McCarthyism at its finest.