NYT: Official Resigns Public TV Post

[Pirate Smile]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — The top television executive at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Thursday that he would be stepping down. This is the latest in a string of departures of officials and consultants who played central roles in an effort by conservatives to bring what they viewed as more balance to public television and radio.

The executive, Michael Pack, controlled a $70 million production budget and was described by the official who hired him as a conservative Republican. He chose to resign after Patricia S. Harrison, the corporation's new president, forced him to decide between renewing his employment contract and exercising a soon-to-expire option that gives him $500,000 to produce a documentary.

Ms. Harrison said the departures of Mr. Pack and a senior consultant, James Denton, were business decisions and were not part of any purge of ideologically driven officials. "You are connecting dots when there is no connection," she said in an interview. "I have not fired a single person since I came on board here."

But other officials in public broadcasting saw political overtones to the moves. Since being named president of the corporation last June, Ms. Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, has attempted to tamp down a debate over balance in programming that has threatened to undermine financial support for public broadcasting from both Congress and private sources. Public broadcasting officials who had been at odds with the corporation said the personnel changes could shore up support among Republican moderates and Democrats, important traditional allies in budget fights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/arts/television/10broa.html?hp&ex=1139547600&en=185314e2c229a886&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[global1]

1. Republic Broadcasting - Coming To A TV Near You........n/t

[joemurphy]

2. Not really. The guy they fired was a conservative Repubbie. n/t

[Ben Ceremos]

5. Article claims

he was not fired. Ms. Harrison, his employer saiys she has not fired a single person since coming on board. He exercised an option for 500,000$ to produce a documentary.

[Rex]

3. Private Broadcasting System

This is PBS...up at 8, 'We Love Bush'! At 9, 'We Love Bush!' and at 10:30, 'Gosh We Love Bush!'.

[kiraboo]

4. Well, I agree there has been an effect on private funding.

I, for one, haven't given those people a dime since before the Iraq war, when they jumped on the bullshit wagon and started spouting republican propoganda. Never again, I say.

[mom cat]

6. Me too. I rarely listen to National Pentagon Radio anymore.

[Moderator]

7. Kick

[CornField]

8. Influential Public Television Programmer Leaves Post

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cpb11feb11,0,703900.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

The executive who oversaw the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's $70-million television programming fund has left after three years to return to filmmaking.

Michael Pack, the corporation's senior vice president for television programming, said he decided to exercise an option in his contract that allowed him to collect a $500,000 grant for a documentary called "Winning Modern Wars" that his production company was awarded before he took the job at CPB in February 2003. The film will explore how the military is adapting to fight terrorism and other threats.

Pack's use of the grant was frozen for three years when he accepted the CPB post. He had to exercise the option by Monday or he would lose the money.

...

Pack had been viewed with wariness by some public broadcasting advocates, who feared he had a political agenda. During his tenure, Pack developed public affairs programs that featured conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. At the time, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, who was then the chairman of the CPB board, was agitating against what he said was a liberal bias in noncommercial television.

(more)

[Kolesar]

9. Go home and play with his toy soldiers

The last paragraph of your excerpt tells me what I need to know. Thx

[bluerum]

10. Hmmpphhh. Good riddance. eom

[dweller]

11. takes the money and runs... n/t

dp

[Demeter]

12. There Isn't Enough Money to Buy All the Bushbots Off

and you'd think, after all the theft, swindles and extortion, they'd have been satisfied by now....

[1932]

13. Get a load of the credits for Pack's '94 documentary

Hollywood vs. Religion (1994) (V)

Directed by Michael Pack

Genre: Documentary (more)

Plot Outline: Film critic Michael Medved examines the bias against Christianity and Judaism seen in many Hollywood films made after the late 1960s.

User Rating: 5.8/10 (9 votes)

Credited cast:
Michael Medved .... Host
Charles Colson .... Himself (Chairman, Prison Fellowship) (as Charles W. Colson)
Dr. James C. Dobson .... Himself (President, Focus on the Family)
(more)


Runtime: 60 min
Language: English
Color: Black and White / Color