Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Wed., Nov. 16, 2005
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 11-16-05
PRSS Channel: A67.7
Internal CPB Report Charges Former Chair Tomlinson with Ethics
Violations, Uncovers “Cryptic” Emails With White
House Staff
Palestinian, Israeli and American Discuss the Split in Israel’s
Labour Party, the Separation Barrier and the Latest on Gaza
Arab-American Comics Perform Before Sold-Out Crowds in New
York City
Internal CPB Report Charges Former Chair Tomlinson
with Ethics Violations, Uncovers “Cryptic” Emails
With White House Staff
The results of a 6-month internal investigation of the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting (CPB) were made public Thursday, exposing
political interference by Kenneth Tomlinson, former CPB chairman.
The investigation also uncovered emails between Tomlinson
and White House staff that raises questions about the hiring
of the new CPB President. We speak with Tim Karr of Free Press.
[includes rush
transcript]
The investigation, conducted by the Corporation’s Inspector
General, Kenneth Konz, exposes extensive wrongdoing and political
interference by CPB’s former chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson.
Tomlinson, a staunch conservative, was head of CPB until
stepping down in September. He resigned from the Corporation’s
Board on November 3rd, after Konz’s findings were presented
to the board in a three day closed meeting held at an undisclosed
location in Washington D.C.
The Inspector General’s report found that Tomlinson
repeatedly violated the CPB’s contracting rules and
code of ethics in order to promote conservatives in the organization.
It documented numerous occasions in which Tomlinson ignored
CPB procedures in trying to hire his own handpicked candidates
to monitor programs that he accused of liberal bias. Earlier
this year, it was revealed that Tomlinson hired a Republican
operative to monitor the political leanings of shows hosted
by Bill Moyers, Tavis Smiley and Diane Rehm. The report also
found that Tomlinson had inappropriate involvement in the
development of the “Journal Editorial Report,”
a conservative public affairs magazine program that began
airing on PBS last year.
The investigation also uncovered numerous emails between
Tomlinson and White House staff about the hiring of Patricia
Harrison, a former Republican Party Chairwoman, as the new
CPB President. The report states, “while cryptic in
nature, their timing and subject matter gives the appearance
that the former chairman was strongly motivated by political
considerations in filing the President/CEO position.”
Tomlinson released a statement yesterday, calling the report’s
charges “malicious and inappropriate.” Despite
all this, Tomlinson remains the Chairman of the Broadcasting
Board of Governors- a federal agency that oversees the U.S
government’s international broadcasting services, including
Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and the Arabic-language
satellite TV station Al –Hurra.
Last July, the State Department opened an inquiry into Tomlinson’s
work at the Broadcasting Board of Governors. It is looking
into accusations that Tomlinson misused funds and hired unqualified
employees. In the course of that inquiry, the State Department
investigators uncovered email traffic between Deputy White
House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Tomlinson and turned it
over to the CPB investigators - though it was not included
in yesterday’s report.
Palestinian, Israeli and American Discuss the Split
in Israel’s Labour Party, the Separation Barrier and
the Latest on Gaza
With a series of important developments affecting the Israel-Palestine
conflict in the last week -- including the surprise upset
of Shimon Peres in the Labour Party leadership race and the
reopening of Gaza’s border with Egypt – we’re
joined by three peace activists, one Palestinian, one Israeli,
and one American. [includes rush
transcript]
On Tuesday, Israel agreed to allow Palestinians to reopen
the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. And for the first
time, Palestinians will be put in charge of operating the
border. In addition, the Palestinians will be allowed to build
a seaport off the coast of Gaza and to improve transportation
links between Gaza and the West Bank.
In return, Israel will be given the ability to monitor the
Gaza-Egypt border crossing through remote video cameras. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice has been credited with playing a
key role in the agreement which came just a day after Middle
East envoy James Wolfensohn, former President of the World
Bank, warned that Gaza was turning into a “giant prison.”
The border agreement is just one of a series of major developments
in the region in recent days. On Monday, an Israeli army captain
was acquitted in the shooting death of a 13-year-old Palestinian
girl. The shooting took place in October 2004, as the girl
walked near an Israel army post on her way to school. Israeli
troops claimed they suspected she was carrying a bomb in her
school bag. No explosives were found on her, and she wasn’t
searched until after she was shot 17 times and killed. The
shooting made international headlines after Israeli TV broadcast
a recording of the Israeli army captain saying, “Anything
that’s mobile, that moves in the [security] zone, even
if it’s a three-year-old, needs to be killed."
The family of the dead Palestinian girl protested the captain’s
acquittal. The girl’s father, Samir al-Hams said, “This
was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered
her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the
message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian
children."
In other news from the region -- the Israeli political scene
was dealt a shake-up last Thursday when union leader Amir
Peretz defeated veteran statesman Shimon Peres for leadership
of the country’s Labour Party. Peretz immediately announced
Labour would leave the governing coalition, setting the stage
for new elections within months.
Meanwhile, Israelis and Palestinians spent the weekend marking
two significant anniversaries. On Saturday, tens of thousands
of Israelis gathered to mark the assassination of Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin who was killed 10 years ago by a right-wing
Jewish activist. Former President Clinton and Senator Hillary
Clinton attended the memorial for Rabin. Senator Clinton spent
three days in Israel but came under criticism for not visiting
Gaza or the West Bank to meet with Palestinians. During her
trip, Clinton expressed support for Israel to continue building
a 400-mile wall through the West Bank. And on Friday, Palestinians
marked the first anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat.
- Ayed Morrar, Palestinian activist from the West Bank
village of Budrus, where he organized the first Popular
Committee Against the Wall in 2003.
- Jonathan Pollak, Israeli activist. He has participated
in more than 200 Palestinian-organized demonstrations in
the West Bank and has been arrested dozens of times.
- Lilly Rivlin, Jerusalem-born filmmaker, writer and co-chair
of Meretz USA, the American affiliate of the Israeli political
party Meretz-Yachad.
Arab-American Comics Perform Before Sold-Out Crowds
in New York City
Arab American comics are performing before sold-out crowds
at the 2005 New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. The festival,
which runs Nov. 13th – 17th, showcases the talents of
Arab-American actors, comics, playwrights and filmmakers.
We play some of the stand-up performances from the festival
and speak with the co-founder Dean Obeidallah as well as Hend
Ayoub, a Palestinian actress who stars in the new film “Private”.
[includes rush
transcript]
From Israel’s separation barrier in the Occupied Territories
to the bombing in Jordan to the latest on the war in Iraq,
it’s hard to find much humor in the Middle East, but
a group of Arab American comics are doing that just, playing
to sold-out crowds here in New York City.
Just some of the comedians performing at the third annual
New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, which opened on Sunday
in Manhattan. The festival runs through to Thursday and showcases
the talents of Arab-American actors, comics, playwrights and
filmmakers. It was co-founded in 2003 by Dean Obeidallah,
a former attorney turned stand-up comic.
- Hend
Ayoub, a Palestinian actress who stars in the new film
“Private” and is making her debut at this year’s
festival.
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.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
whole
show
