WP: Ombudsmen Appointed for NPR, PBS (Buster the Bunny fallout?)

[DeepModem Mom]

Ombudsmen Appointed for Public Radio, TV

By Paul Farhi and Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 6, 2005; Page C03


....The government-funded nonprofit group that oversees public broadcasting appointed two veteran journalists to critique the work of public radio and TV programming, following recent criticism over what is seen and heard on the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created by Congress to pass federal funds to public broadcasters, appointed former NBC newsman Ken Bode and former Reader's Digest editor William Schulz to the new positions of CPB ombudsmen. Bode and Schultz periodically will review public radio and TV shows after the programs have aired and report on their journalistic balance and accuracy.

The appointments come after a long history of conservative complaints about alleged bias on PBS and NPR....Earlier this year, PBS drew conservative ire, including criticism from Education Secretary Margaret Spelling, over its plans to air a children's show featuring the character Buster the Bunny in which Buster visits a real-life lesbian couple in Vermont....

***

...a public broadcasting official, who asked not to be named because CPB provides funding to his organization, remarked, "Even a casual read on this is that this is the (fallout) from 'Buster.' By disputing our content, (CPB) can get more involved in what we do. This is another step forward in the politicization of (public) broadcast content."

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group, said the moves were part of a pattern of conservative appointments at CPB aimed at "neutering public broadcasting editorially."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28476-2005Apr5.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. Thought Police on Alert

Hey you with the cursor in your hand, you weren't just engaging in ThoughtCrime were you? We can't have no Free Thinkers running around loose. We better take you in for some questioning just to be sure.

Administration Experts Agree: Everything is Just Fine.

[Demit]

2. They tried journalistic balance, with Tucker Carlson & Bill Moyers

Hahahaha! The lightweight Mr. Carlson was no match in either journalism or accuracy, and even the politicians at PBS knew that.

[reprobate]

9. It's far beyond time for a TRUE Public Broadcast Service, a la BBC

INW a service that is politically independant.

[Teaser]

3. PBS is running on fumes.

We need to develeop, for the mid-term future, some kind of visual medium that functions like DU, or even better, DailyKos. A medium where individuals can generate their own in-depth reports and a kind of karma system is used to moderate quality. PBS is a lost cause, and will never represent the people again.

[xchrom]

4. grrrrrrrr!

oh no, our tax dollars don't matter, our donations make no diff.

that conservatives want to spread LIES seems to alarm no one.

well no one in authority that can grab a mic and get attention any way.

[jean]

5. "Conservative ire" is what they do best: Rant, rave, make WAY too much

noise, and, in some cases, display a menacing physical presence.

And they always seem to get their way.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. How come when millions of anti-war protesters

around the world rant and rave no one cares, but a handful of nutcases get on their soapboxes and everyone is bending over backwards to appease them?

[jean]

10. that's the million dollar question. Millions of Italians agreed with Pope

John Paul in his condemnation of the war in Iraq. They took to the streets in massive protest.

I wonder if there will be any public disdain of Junior when he defiles the papal funeral by his presence.

[MessiahRp]

7. I sent a LTTE to the Wash. Post about this...

At what point does the Right Wing stop crying about the supposedly Liberal Media? Is it when they realize they have a whole network catering to the fringe of their party? Is it when they see moderate stations like MSNBC and CNN stacking their programming with right wing pundits? Is it when they see that syndicated ownership like Clear Channel and Sinclair own so many stations that they can their right wing tilted news from one studio so there’s only one opinion broadcasted nationwide? Or is it when they obliterate any type of free speech available to us all?

In recent years NPR and PBS at the very least attempted to tilt more to the right to portray the type of balance the conservatives desire. They hired Tucker Carlson and chastised interviewers for asking tough questions of Bill O’Reilly. But balance to the right isn’t balance at all. Their ownership of mainstream media has slanted the media so far right that the middle of the political spectrum appears to be a great distance to the left. To the left of right wing fanaticism maybe, but not anywhere near the liberal bias they purport the media to have. Air America is the only thing the left has on its side and even they are outnumbered by the countless conservative talking heads on the radio.

Maybe instead of worrying about the balance of NPR and PBS, they can spend a little time peering inward at their own. After all, PBS hired Tucker Carlson to provide balance. Do you see Fox hiring a prominent Liberal and giving them their own show? I think not.



Robert Poole, Jr.
Oshkosh, WI

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Excellent, MR! nt

[MsUSA]

11. Just an outstanding letter.

[lostnfound]

14. I second that. nt

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. NPR at its best was on a sort of honor system - but now with a regime

bent on manipulating the public with Orwellian Thought Control -- after all, their power is contingent on people believing their lies -- there IS no honor any more. And with the fear of losing funding, NPR people can't even complain loudly about this - they'd lose their jobs and possibly be blacklisted.

The Orwellian Big Brother state continues to tighten its grip. Without hearing the truth, what can the public do? Without being given an alternative to the fear and horror described to them constantly by the puppet media, how can they fight both the regime and their own despair?

For the cartel, Ignorance Is Strength, War Is Peace, and Some Are More Equal Than Others.

[Up2Late]

13. THIS SUCKS!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!! !!

To all of you out there who stopped supporting NPR because of how FAR RIGHT it has moved in the last few years, I ask, Is this what you wanted?

NPR's "Talk of the Nation" recently had their current Ombudsman Jeffrey A. Dvorkin on the show, and he said he had been getting Flooded with e-mails from RW Fundies, so I have no doubt that he and NPR are under RW pressure. I've heard people here moan about how corporate NPR has become, but abandoning one of our last left leaning Radio News Networks (because it's not as left as AAR or Pacifica) is just wrong.

This to me looks like another RW attempt to influence and shove NPR and PBS more Right, so I hope you will reconsider your decision to abandon NPR, as it HAS started to move back toward the Left, due to (I suspect) e-mails from DUer's at mine and others, urging.

I hope anyone that who agrees, will send a short letter of support to <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=45... > or [email protected] :evilfrown: