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CPB Chief Tomlinson Comes Under Fire For Secretly Monitoring
Political Content of Public Broadcasting
CPB Board Member on Fmr. RNC Chair Patricia Harrison: "We
Shouldn't Select Anyone Who Has Run One Of The National Political
Parties"
Cato vs. PBS: A Debate on Federal Funding of Public Broadcasting
Rep. Henry Waxman on Karl Rove: "The President Said
He Would Fire Anybody He Found Responsible"
CPB Chief Tomlinson Comes Under Fire For Secretly
Monitoring Political Content of Public Broadcasting
The head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth
Tomlinson, came under fire from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) at
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. We play
an excerpt of the hearing. [includes rush
transcript]
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.
CPB Board Member on Fmr. RNC Chair Patricia Harrison:
"We Shouldn't Select Anyone Who Has Run One Of The National
Political Parties"
We speak with Ernest Wilson, a board member for the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting about Monday's hearing, Kenneth Tomlinson's
monitoring of the political content of public broadcasting
and the hiring of former RNC co-chair Patricia Harrison as
CEO of the CPB.
- Ernest Wilson, a board member of the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting. He was first appointed by President
Clinton in September 2000 and re-appointed by President
George W. Bush in November 2004. He is a Professor of Government
and Politics and Afro-American Studies in the School of
Public Affairs at the University of Maryland.
Cato vs. PBS: A Debate on Federal Funding of Public
Broadcasting
As the Senate Appropriations Committee meets this week to
consider the budget of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
we host a debate on government funding of public broadcasting
with David Boaz of the Cato Institute, Bill Reed, the president
of KCPT in Kansas City and Jeffrey Chester of the Center for
Digital Democracy.
Monday's hearing was scheduled to discuss funding for the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides federal
money to non-commercial broadcasters, including PBS.
CPB survived a GOP-led effort last month in the House to
cut $100 million from its budget. The House, however, did
not include more than $100 million dollars in funding for
technological upgrades and PBS" Ready-to-Learn program,
which subsidizes children's educational programming and distributes
learning materials.
The public broadcasting system still faces a 25% reduction
in federal funding next year. This week, the Senate Appropriations
Committee is to consider the CPB budget, including $146 million
worth of programs public broadcasting officials hope to get
reinstated.
One witness at Monday's subcommittee hearing expressed support
for doing away with federal funding altogether - David Boaz
of the libertarian Cato Institute. We host a discussion with
Boaz as well as Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy
and Bill Reed, president of KCPT in Kansas City.
- Bill Reed, President of KCPT
in Kansas City, Missouri.
Rep. Henry Waxman on Karl Rove: "The President
Said He Would Fire Anybody He Found Responsible"
In Washington calls are intensifying for President Bush's
chief advisor Karl Rove to resign because of his role in the
outing of undercover CIA operative, Valerie Plame. We speak
with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) who is calling for Congressional
hearings into Rove's role as well as journalist David Corn
of The Nation.
A growing number of Congressmembers are calling on President
Bush's senior advisor, Karl Rove, to resign if he won't publicly
explain his role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
This comes as multiple media outlets continue to piece together
various parts of the story and the extent of Rove's involvement.
Newsweek obtained an email from Time Magazine reporter Matthew
Cooper confirming that Rove spoke with Cooper about Plame
-- days before her name first appeared in a column by Robert
Novak. Rove's attorney has now admitted that his client mentioned
to Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but claims
that Rove did not reveal her name. It is a felony to knowingly
reveal the identity of an undercover operative. From the moment
this scandal began, the White House has adamantly denied that
Rove or any other administration official was behind the outting
of Plame.
On Monday at the White House press briefing, spokesperson
Scott McClellan was asked repeatedly about Rove's role. Among
those questioning McClellan was Nation magazine reporter David
Corn.
- White House press briefing, July 11, 2005.
Meanwhile, California Democrat Henry Waxman is calling for
Congressional hearings, saying, "The new disclosures
also raise issues about whether Mr. Rove acted alone or whether
there was a conspiracy with other White House staff to use
classified information for the political purpose of discrediting"
Plame's husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Wilson exposed one
of the Bush administration's key justifications for the invasion-Iraq's
alleged attempt to purchase uranium from Niger.
- Rep. Henry Waxman, Democratic congressman from California.
He is calling for a hearing into Karl Rove's role in the
outting of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.
- David Corn, Washington Editor of The Nation magazine.
He was the first journalist to report that someone in the
White House may have committed a criminal act by revealing
the identity of Valerie Plame. He is also author of The
Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception.
Read more at: www.DavidCorn.com.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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