19
Jul
Don’t Get Fooled Again
Meet the new boss.
She’s the same as the old boss — or maybe even worse.
So if you’ve been appalled at the “creeping conservative” coup in public broadcasting … dismayed at seeing Bill Moyers pilloried while millions of taxpayer dollars were lavished on a public affairs program anchored by the soft-right son of a former chief of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and a news chat show featuring the hard-right editorial board of the Wall Street Journal … horrified by the selection of the former head of the Republican National Committee as CPB president … and were moved to call for CPB Chair Ken Tomlinson to leave his post … watch out!
You’re about to get what you asked for.
The controversial Tomlinson’s second one-year term expires in September — and he cannot be reappointed. As the Washington Post reported last week, a leading Republican donor named Cheryl F. Halpern is the top candidate to replace him.
Halpern and her husband Fred — long major financial supporters of Republican candidates — have given more than $324,000 to Republicans since 1989. During the last election, Mother Jones magazine ranked them among the nation’s top 100 “hard” money contributors.
Appointed to the CPB board three years ago by President Bush, Halpern is a close ally of Tomlinson and part of the five-member Republican majority now controlling the board. She and Tomlinson served together on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the federal government’s international broadcasting services, such as Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe. Those overseas government information services often serve as a feeder system for pubic broadcasting officials.
(Tomlinson chairs the BBG as well as CPB, and directed VOA during the Reagan administration; former CPB Chairman Richard Carlson once headed the VOA; former CPB President Bob Coonrod was a longtime U.S. Information Agency executive; current CPB board-member Ernest J. Wilson III was a U.S. Information Agency official during the Clinton years; current NPR President Kevin Klose was the BBG’s top executive; his deputy, Ken Stern, also worked there.)
As the chair of CPB, the agency that distributes federal funds to noncommercial radio and TV stations and supposedly serves as a buffer between public broadcasting and politicians seeking to influence its news reporting and programming, Halpern would be far from impartial. At the Senate confirmation hearing on her nomination to the CPB board in 2003, for example, she suggested that public broadcasting journalists should be penalized for biased programs. She also agreed with Senator Trent Lott, R-Miss., when he questioned the objectivity of the award-winning PBS journalist and commentator Bill Moyers.
“I certainly think he’s the most partisan and nonobjective person I know in media of any kind,” Lott said of Moyers. “It’s the most blatantly partisan, irresponsible thing I’ve ever heard in my life, and yet [CPB] has not seemed to be willing to deal with Bill Moyers and that type of programming.”
“The fact of the matter is, I agree,” Halpern told Lott. “There has to be recognition that an objective, balanced code of journalistic ethics has got to prevail across the board, and there needs to be accountability.” She added that penalties for journalists would be justified when balance fails, although CPB’s own rules prohibited interfering with programming decisions.
“When there were allegations of impropriety [at the BBG] in violation of the journalistic code of ethics,” Halpern told the senators, “we were able to aggressively step in, review the transcript of the potential violation and initiate penalties.”
Neither Halpern nor Lott ever said what penalties they might propose. But Halpern did refer to her previous powers at the BBG — which included “physical removal” of journalists — as a model: “Going back to my BBG days, we were able to remove physically somebody who had engaged in editorialization of the news,” she said.
“Was that man removed in handcuffs?” asked Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
If chosen as the new CPB Chair, Halpern’s high-profile comments and political connections threaten to make her tenure every bit as controversial as Tomlinson’s, — which thus far has led public broadcasting executives to accuse him of partisanship, and Democrats to call for his resignation.
But if Halpern’s nomination runs into trouble, informed sources say the Republicans have another candidate waiting in the wings — another CPB board member named Gay Hart Gaines.
Gaines was a top fundraiser for Newt Gingrich a decade ago when he campaigned to de-fund CPB. She and her husband Stanley have donated more than $491,000 to Republican causes since 1989, according to federal figures compiled by Common Cause. Ms. Gaines, who chaired Gingrich’s GOPAC fundraising vehicle, has such stature in Republican circles that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford once told her hometown (Palm Beach, Florida) newspaper, the Palm Beach Daily News, “When Gay Gaines asks you to do something, you say, ‘Yes, ma’am.’”
Of course, politicizing public broadcasting is nothing new. Appointment to CPB’s board is the result of a political patronage process, and to the victor belongs the spoils. When Democrats occupy the White House, they also put generous and well-connected friends on the CPB Board. Alan Sagner, one Clinton-era board member and chairman in 1996-97, gave more to Democrats than the Halperns gave to Republicans — in excess of $399,000 since 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
And while two recent national surveys of TV viewers, commissioned by Ken Tomlinson, gave high marks to both PBS and NPR for their news and public-affairs reporting, and although two veteran journalists hired by Tomlinson in April to serve as ombudsmen have thus far filed reports filled only with praise for public broadcasting programming, Cheryl Halpern’s nomination as CPB Chair will only ensure that the charged, highly partisan politics of public broadcasting shows no sign of abating anytime soon.
How did CPB become politicized in the first place. Why is it we citizens allow a crucially influencial post like Chairman of the CPB to be an appointed position in the first place. We live in a purported democracy and all importnat posts should be filled by elected leaders. If a president has the power to to “appoint” the executives of public media, then he is on hte cusp of dictatorial powers. Wasn’t our constitution crafted with the intent to foil a national leader desire to acquire unchwecked power?
July 19th, 2005 at 2:54 pmAmazing when the tides are turned!!!!!! Shock of shocks the Reps. are gaining control of Public TV! The liberals have had control for soooo long they feel it was theirs and theirs alone. For those that are independants, I doubt that they will see a difference. I watched public TV and only took note when there was a definitive liberal spin like war=bad, peace=good. I would like this to be the case but unfortunately there are those that will not respect that peace unless we are willing to defend it. As long as there are muslims in the world, we will be required to defend democracy. (Yes, I said muslims, ALL muslims) Their very religion is against democracy. Read the Koran, it defines women as possessions like land, and it says ALL infidels must die. It also says that killing infidels is not wrong! Some religion, huh! Most religions preach peace but the muslim religion preaches war - a war that accepts the killing of women and children as acceptable and commonplace. The war they accept is not a conventional one, but one of secrecy and hiding among those they intend to kill. They “ARE NOT soldiers” but they are nothing more than worms that hide in the dirt until they are comfortable to come out. Soldiers will face their enemy, these worms are afraid to face their enemy until they have the upper hand. What good soldier beheads their enemy after they have already captured them????? A real soldier knows that once captured, the combatant can do no more harm as long as they hold them until the confrontation is over. THEY ARE *NOT* SOLDIERS” They are wussies, running and scurring like rabbits from the fox.
July 19th, 2005 at 8:18 pmI just came to another realization! - The London bombings - the opening of two supreme court justices. Funny how they have taken a backstage to Karl Rove. They (the liberal media) have put ALL their stakes on a horse that they can’t saddle… Their world is coming to an end… I can hear the cries “Gore won, Kerry Won, the polls were rigged, oil war (haven’t heard that since the prices of gas rose - but they’d blame that on Bush also). All the evidence points to all cheating on the Demoncraptic side but until we oust our liberal Governer (Doyle) here in WI - AND WE WILL, we won’t be able to get the corruption out of our state. We are determined to get our votes to really count and stop saying that accountabilty before you vote means you are exempting underpriviledged voters - because those same voters have to have an ID to drive or even get an apartment among numerous other things.
July 19th, 2005 at 8:48 pmThe CPB has been a wing of the DNC for so long that it has become common for them to editorialize the news to present the democrat view in a favorable light. Bill Moyers presents the democrat talking points to the point of being obvious to not only Trent Lott but to any open minded person that can sit throught his presentation. I would be happy to see just a non-partisian presentation of the news without the obvious left leaning comentary.
July 19th, 2005 at 9:01 pmHmmmm….
Comments courtesy of Vincent Fiore
Consider the Senate committee’s findings:
- The panel found that Wilson’s report, “rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, actually bolstered the case for most intelligence analysis.
- To this day, British intelligence maintains that Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa, recently underlined by a report from The Financial Times of London. The British government states “European intelligence officers have now revealed… human and electronic intelligence sources from a number of countries picked up repeated discussion of an illicit trade in uranium from Niger.” The New York Times paraphrased the above with a clear-cut story titled: “Intelligence Backs Claim Iraq Tried to Buy Uranium.” The essay leaves no doubt as to the claim of Bush in January 2003 that Saddam Hussein was not only was trying to procure uranium, but had been for years.
- Ambassador Wilson’s wife, CIA employee Valerie Plame, “specifically recommended” Wilson for the trip to Africa. In a memo from Plame dated February 12, 2002, to the deputy chief of the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) from Plame, the Senate report concludes that according to the CIA testimony, Plame “offered up his (Wilson’s) name.”
Other Columns by Vincent Fiore
Vincent Fiore Bio
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Lest We Forget The ‘Confusion’ Of Joseph Wilson
By Vincent Fiore
July 18, 2005
Page 2 of 3
- To this day, British intelligence maintains that Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa, recently underlined by a report from The Financial Times of London. The British government states “European intelligence officers have now revealed… human and electronic intelligence sources from a number of countries picked up repeated discussion of an illicit trade in uranium from Niger.” The New York Times paraphrased the above with a clear-cut story titled: “Intelligence Backs Claim Iraq Tried to Buy Uranium.” The essay leaves no doubt as to the claim of Bush in January 2003 that Saddam Hussein was not only was trying to procure uranium, but had been for years. (web site)
- Ambassador Wilson’s wife, CIA employee Valerie Plame, “specifically recommended” Wilson for the trip to Africa. In a memo from Plame dated February 12, 2002, to the deputy chief of the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) from Plame, the Senate report concludes that according to the CIA testimony, Plame “offered up his (Wilson’s) name.” (web site)
- Wilson misled the “Washington Post” in June 2003, when he told the paper that the Niger intelligence was based on documents that had clearly been forged because “the dates were wrong and the names were wrong.” In fact, Wilson had never seen the reports.
When the Senate committee staff asked Wilson how he could have come to that conclusion, Wilson replied that he may have “misspoken” (”misspoken,” “erred,” and “confused,” in relation to former ambassador Joseph Wilson, know this: These words are typical beltway qualifiers that seek to say in essence that “I lied,” without ever having to say the word “lied.”) to reporters.
- Contrary to Wilson’s claim’s that the Bush administration understood that it was knowingly passing along questionable information to the American public, the Senate committee found in its investigations that the CIA did not tell the White House it had its own doubts about an Iraq/Niger connection for the procuring of uranium.
Joseph Wilson has had extensive ties to the Democratic Party throughout much of his time in Washington. Wilson is an unabashed supporter and donor to the Kerry/Edwards campaign for the presidency. In 2000, he donated to Vice President Gore’s election, as has his wife, Valerie Plame. In the mid-eighties, Wilson worked for Gore as a congressional staffer. He has donated money to such liberal stalwarts as Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy. He has in the recent past spoken to liberal “527″ groups like Win Without War, which is a part of MoveOn.org, the premiere liberal hate group that is renowned for its coarse and hate-inspired political sloganeering.
Joe Wilson, like former terrorist czar Richard Clarke, who also tried to spin a web of deceit against Bush, have shown to be seriously lacking the moral character that one would expect from such once-trusted government officials.
It is chilling to me just what the acquisition of power means to the party out of power. In this case, it is the Democratic Party. It has shown that it and its supporters, like Clarke and Wilson, would willingly throw the country into political disarray all in hopes of attaining political power and favor.
It is unclear whether honest news can travel fast in a media mired in political self-interest reporting. I suspect not, as I’m sure this surprises no one interested in the truth. One would hope that the country learns of the mendacity of Joe Wilson, and his willingness to inject his political viewpoints in a time of war, all in the hopes of seeing a Democrat in the White House.
The prolific architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, said “The truth is more important than the facts.” I would amend his words to say “The truth is that much more important because of the facts.” In Joseph Wilson, the fact of the matter is that the truth is not important, regardless of the facts.
Vincent Fiore is a freelance political writer who lives in New York City. He receives e-mail at: Anwar004@aol.com
July 19th, 2005 at 9:34 pmIt has become standard tactic for the Democrats to cry wolf now that President Bush has the chance to appoint his own people to various commissions. The same hypocrisy was heard when the composition of the Civil Rights Commission changed, long a partisan ally of the Democrats until Bush won his second term.
What is wrong with achieving balance in programs paid for by public taxes? Moyers, as the press secretary of Lyndon Johnson, has been a partisan Democrat all his life and that was evident during his tenure at PBS. The WSJ editorial board is one of the best in the nation and it would be nice for Americans to hear its viewpoints on issues.
Let Tomlinson do his job and don’t castigate him, along with his potential successor, with the kind of partisan sniping that the Dems routinely use to demonize the president’s appointees. Americans have rejected that kind of vitriol.
July 20th, 2005 at 8:23 amNeo-con’s are sooooo long winded. Bush has the house and senate but they seem so angry, what is with the greasy karma? Bush’s admin is like every other republican administration, Bogged down war, huge debt, working poor, low approval ratings, it feels like the 80’s again, we even have a drug epidemic (meth) for Laura Bush to “just say no” to.
July 21st, 2005 at 5:10 amGee, still think Bush’s appointees are so fabulous? It’s still cronyism at its worst. Pity that it’s not Bush or his cronys suffer from their inability to do the jobs appointed to them, they simply have no background outside of friendship/contributions to Bush’s campaign.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:16 pmRecently, KQED & WNYC refused to accept sponsorship ads from the dovish Israeli organization, New Israel Fund (see the link to my post on the affair). THey used the preposterous excuse that NIF’s sponsorship involved “advocacy” which supposedly they didn’t allow.
At the time, I wondered whether Halpern’s influence was being felt even then & that stations were already feeling “under the gun” to adhere to a more conservative approach even when it came to running sponsor ads.
It’s already hard to find good journalism about the ME conflict (just as it’s difficult to find good progressive blogging about it as well), so it makes me heartsick that we might lose the exclnt. coverage that NPR has provided of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
September 28th, 2005 at 1:57 amA breath of fresh air will enter when that radical Bill Moyers is removed. Anyone who thinks he is anything but a radical, totally out of the mainstream, is either lying to himself as well as others, or is out of the mainstream himself.
I may finally be able to listen to the programs involved and feel I am listening to something fair and balanced. It’s about time!!!!
September 28th, 2005 at 12:14 pm