Posted on: Sunday, June 26, 2005

EDITORIAL
Let's save PBS, NPR from partisanship

The public broadcasting wars are being fought on two fronts these days. But although news of threatened cuts to PBS and NPR, which were appropriately rejected by the House, had generated the loudest public outcry, the truly unsettling conflict here is the ideological battle. That outcome will affect the independence of both PBS and National Public Radio.

At the center of the fray is Kenneth Tomlinson, the conservative chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an agency that is supposed to allot federal money to public television and radio stations. It was founded to be the sensible nonpartisan buffer between the politicians who approve the funds at the Capitol and the broadcasters who spend it.

That buffer has begun to crumble in recent months, largely at the hands of Tomlinson, whose resignation has been sought by Democrats on the Hill. The most recent flash point has been his appointment of Patricia de Stacy Harrison, who formerly co-chaired the Republican National Committee, as CPB president. By itself, this wouldn't cause too many shock waves in Washington, where partisan figures recycle frequently through various political appointments.

But it was especially disturbing because the hiring followed Tomlinson's relentless drive to root out what he saw as strands of liberal bias in programming. The best-known episode was his sparring match with Bill Moyers, former host of the public affairs program "Now." Tomlinson spent thousands on contracts to monitor the political leanings of its guests.

Thankfully, the whole effort is under investigation by the corporation's inspector general, as are even more damning signs of partisan links. The New York Times has reported that this inquiry uncovered e-mails between Tomlinson and a White House official, a staffer who later joined CPB. They were discussing plans for hiring an ombudsman to ride herd on the alleged bias. Sadly, all of this smacks of exactly the incestuous political environment CPB is supposed to avoid.

PBS and NPR certainly are not apolitical — worthy public affairs broadcasting demands a robust depiction of society — but to portray them as leftist havens ignores a great deal of programming that spans the entire spectrum of thought. Most importantly, they are institutions where artistic standards can triumph over the fads and commercialism of pop culture. It would be tragic to let public broadcasting become yet another arena dominated by shallowness and partisan bickering.