[Dialogue] More on PBS programming

[LAURELCG@aol.com]

Forwarded by Jann McGuire.  We watched the Paul Gigot program Friday night 
following NOW.  It is a panel made up entirely of Wall Street Journal Editorial 
Board members.  Quite right (wing, that is.)  

Dear Media Reformer:


PBS is in jeopardy. Today's New York Times describes secret efforts by 
Republican operatives to make our Public Broadcasting System more "fair and 
balanced." 


Kenneth Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting (CPB) -- the government-funded organization that was designed to 
shield PBS from political pressure -- is aggressively pressing PBS to correct what 
he considers "liberal bias."


He secretly hired a White House staffer to help draft "guiding principles" 
for the future of CPB. He brought in a consultant to monitor the "anti-Bush" and 
"anti-Tom Delay" content on Bill Moyers' NOW program, and then set up and 
funded right-wing commentator Paul Gigot's new PBS program. Now Tomlinson is 
working behind the scenes to stack CPB's board and executive offices with 
Republican Party cronies.


Here's how we can stop them. Join our call to Congress, the Corporation for 
Public Broadcasting and PBS station managers to:


1. Remove Kenneth Tomlinson from the CPB board.


2. Return PBS to the people by holding local town meetings in your community. 
The public -- not partisan political operatives -- should decide what they 
want from PBS.


Add your name to the letter now by visiting 
http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs .


Tomlinson told the Times that he's trying to restore "objectivity and 
balance" to public broadcasting. This top-down partisan meddling goes against the 
very nature of PBS and the local stations we trust. Let the people speak and 
decide the future of PBS, not secret dealings by White House operatives.


Send your message now -- and forward this letter to all of your friends and 
colleagues, asking them to do the same.


Onward,


Josh Silver

Executive Director

www.freepress.net


P.S. -- To learn more, read the recent report on "Building a Public 
Broadcasting System that Deserves Public Support" by Free Press, Consumers Union, 
Common Cause, Media Access Project and the Consumer Federation of America. You can 
find a link to it at http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=64 .