Editorial: Probe reveals hidden agenda

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 | 7:25 a.m.

The recently ousted Corporation for Public Broadcasting board chairman broke federal laws and internal policies in his quest to fight what he considered liberal bias in programming, an inspector general's report says.

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson resigned as board chairman two weeks ago after the corporation's inspector general presented results of his investigation. The report, released Tuesday, says Tomlinson violated the Public Broadcasting Act, which created the CPB and is designed to shield programming decisions from politics.

Tomlinson will face no further sanctions. But Inspector General Kenneth Konz's report says investigators "found an organizational environment" in which Tomlinson and other CPB executives could "operate without appropriate checks and balances."

The federally funded corporation provides grants for programming on public television and radio stations. The president selects its board members, and the Senate confirms them.

Congress awarded the corporation $400 million this year. But future funding is threatened by right-wing lawmakers who say the programming carries a liberal bias. They apparently fail to see the hypocrisy of enforcing their "alternative" view.

Tomlinson violated federal law by taking a lead role in stumping for $4 million to pay for "The Journal Report," a television program featuring The Wall Street Journal's far-right editorial-page writers, the report says.

Even presidential adviser Karl Rove was brought into programming decisions, Konz says, as Rove and Tomlinson discussed developing a conservative public television show. Corporation board members are prohibited from being involved in programming decisions.

The investigation also concluded that Patricia Harrison, former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, was chosen as CPB's new president only after passing Tomlinson's "political test." Typically, a nonpartisan public broadcasting expert gets the job.

Tomlinson has denied any wrongdoing. But results of the six-month probe show that not even federal law stops these Republican appointees and their high-ranking White House cronies from using the public's money and airwaves to push their political propaganda.