CPB takes aim at NPR
A Times EditorialPublished May 23, 2005
After provoking an outcry over his attempts to bring ideological "balance" to public television, Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is kicking up a new skirmish over his plan to monitor National Public Radio for signs of liberal bias. His latest moves are disingenuous and troubling, aimed at shrinking NPR's resources for news programming while encouraging a more government-friendly news agenda.
Tomlinson first made headlines amid reports he secretly monitored the political leanings of guests on Now, the PBS newsmagazine once hosted by Bill Moyers, and hired two ombudsmen to monitor the Public Broadcasting Service using guidelines drafted with input from a White House official.
Now the CPB has admitted developing ideas to track NPR's Middle East coverage, despite the fact that the radio news outlet already has an independent and effective ombudsman. The Republican-dominated CPB board is also exploring ways to direct funding for news programs to music shows - a change that could particularly affect funding of new radio programs aimed at underserved audiences, such as NPR's black-focused News and Notes With Ed Gordon .
According to the New York Times, these moves and others have increased friction between NPR and a CPB board dominated by members appointed by President Bush. Tomlinson's moves at PBS already have sparked an investigation by CPB's inspector general, examining the possibility that the chairman may have unlawfully allowed politics to influence his actions.
What remains notable about Tomlinson's liberal bias charges is the lack of hard data supporting them. In interviews with conservatives such as Tucker Carlson (ironically, on his PBS show Unfiltered) and Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, Tomlinson has only cited one PBS documentary on the oil industry and generalized criticisms of Moyers. A 2003 study of public broadcasting audiences found 48 percent of PBS viewers and 38 percent of NPR listeners say there is no ideological bias in programming.
Buoyed by a growing listenership and a $200-million endowment from the late philanthropist Joan Kroc, NPR receives less than 1 percent of its funding from the CPB, helping it resist attempts at political interference. But Tomlinson's efforts still can affect member stations, which receive about 12 percent of their funding from the CPB, and funding for new programs.
In an environment where conservative bloggers are even accusing the 30-year-old Star Wars movie franchise of anti-Bush bias, legislators and the public should resist this ideology-driven attempt to demonize and regulate one of the nation's most trusted news sources.