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News :: Arts : Crime & Police : Government Secrecy : Media : Political-Economy : Regime : Right Wing |
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CPB Board Member Quits Ahead of Report |
Current rating: 0 |
by Matea Gold
(No verified email address) |
05 Nov 2005
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Among other issues, Konz examined Tomlinson's secret hiring of a consultant, Fred Mann, who tracked the political leanings of guests on shows such as PBS' "Now with Bill Moyers." Mann categorized those who expressed opposition to White House policies, including Republicans, as "liberal" or "anti-Bush." Critics of the study, including PBS President Pat Mitchell, denounced it as wasteful and unproductive.
Konz also investigated the former chairman's involvement in awarding contracts to Republican lobbyists without informing the rest of the board and his efforts to establish Harrison as the corporation's new chief executive this summer. |
NEW YORK — Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, whose controversial leadership of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board of directors sparked an internal investigation into his tenure, resigned from the board Thursday in advance of the imminent release of the report, which is expected to contain criticism of his actions.
Tomlinson's abrupt departure — characterized in a statement as a mutual decision by him and the rest of the board — came after they met in a closed session for three days in an undisclosed location in the Washington area to review the findings of the corporation's inspector general, Kenneth A. Konz.
Tomlinson had a little more than a year left before the end of his six-year term as a member of the board.
For the last six months, Konz has been investigating allegations by Democratic lawmakers that Tomlinson broke federal law and violated corporation policies in his efforts to balance what he has called a liberal tilt in public broadcasting.
Konz does not plan to make his report public until mid-November. In a statement released Thursday evening, the eight-member board did not detail his findings, but suggested that the inspector general had concluded that at least some of Tomlinson's actions were inappropriate.
"The board does not believe that Mr. Tomlinson acted maliciously or with any intent to harm CPB or public broadcasting, and the board recognizes that Mr. Tomlinson strongly disputes the findings in the soon-to-be-released inspector general's report," the statement read.
"The board expresses its disappointment in the performance of former key staff whose responsibility it was to advise the board and its members," the statement noted. "Nonetheless, both the board and Mr. Tomlinson believe it is in the best interests of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that he no longer remain on the board. The board commends Mr. Tomlinson for his legitimate efforts to achieve balance and objectivity in public broadcasting."
Corporation spokesman Michael Levy declined to elaborate on the statement. Tomlinson did not respond to a phone message or e-mail for comment.
A Republican who served as director of the Voice of America in the 1980s, Tomlinson was a reporter and eventually editor of Reader's Digest. He was first appointed to the CPB board by President Clinton in 2000 and was elected its chairman in 2003. He also is the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an influential panel that oversees the government's international broadcasting services.
Tomlinson's resignation from the CPB board is a dramatic bookend to what many public broadcasters have called the most tumultuous period in the 38-year history of the corporation, a private nonprofit that distributes federal funding to local stations.
In the last six months, Tomlinson — whose two-year term as chairman expired in late September — provoked a heated debate with his aggressive efforts to incorporate more conservatives into public broadcasting, both on the air and behind the scenes. He said he was merely following federal law requiring the corporation to ensure objectivity and balance in public broadcasting, and argued that his actions would expand the appeal of the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio.
But Democrats and liberal watchdog groups accused him of politicizing the corporation, which is charged with shielding public broadcasting from partisan meddling.
On Thursday, many of them — including Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.) and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), who initially requested the investigation in May — applauded Tomlinson's exit.
"There's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Tomlinson's legacy at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a negative one, and that he has done far more harm to the CPB than good," added Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.).
But Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, in Washington, said he did not believe the political tussle over public broadcasting had ended, noting that Republicans still dominated the corporation's leadership. Newly elected Chairwoman Cheryl F. Halpern and Vice Chairwoman Gay Hart Gaines have both donated substantial money to GOP candidates and causes, and President Patricia Harrison is a former GOP chairwoman.
"To me, the whole episode points to a need for long-term reform of the governance of that organization," said John Lawson, president of the Assn. of Public Television Stations, whose board recently renewed its efforts to expand the CPB board and include more station representatives.
In an interview this week, Konz said that after corporation officials responded to his findings, he would release his report to Congress and the public, around Nov. 15.
"I hope we can put a conclusion on it and let everybody know what's going on here," Konz said. "And I hope as a result of the report, we get some meaningful corrective action here." He declined to elaborate until the report was complete.
Among other issues, Konz examined Tomlinson's secret hiring of a consultant, Fred Mann, who tracked the political leanings of guests on shows such as PBS' "Now with Bill Moyers." Mann categorized those who expressed opposition to White House policies, including Republicans, as "liberal" or "anti-Bush." Critics of the study, including PBS President Pat Mitchell, denounced it as wasteful and unproductive.
Konz also investigated the former chairman's involvement in awarding contracts to Republican lobbyists without informing the rest of the board and his efforts to establish Harrison as the corporation's new chief executive this summer.
Throughout the inquiry, Tomlinson had declined to comment on the specific matters being investigated but had repeatedly defended his actions.
"I'm confident when the inspector general is finished with his investigation that all will see that not only did I do nothing illegal," he said in June, "but I also did nothing that was not in keeping with the traditions of CPB."
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
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Tomlinson Under Investigation by State Dept. IG |
by Stephen LaBaton
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
05 Nov 2005
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 - Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency
that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, including
the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, is the subject of an inquiry
into accusations of misuse of federal money and the use of phantom or
unqualified employees, officials involved in that examination said on Friday.
Mr. Tomlinson was ousted from the board of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting on Thursday after its inspector general concluded an
investigation that was critical of him. That examination looked at his
efforts as chairman of the corporation to seek more conservative programs
on public radio and television.
But Mr. Tomlinson remains an important official as the chairman of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors. The board, whose members include the
secretary of state, plays a central role in public diplomacy. It supervises
the government's foreign broadcasting operations, including Radio MartÃ,
Radio Sawa and al-Hurra; transmits programs in 61 languages; and says it
has more than 100 million listeners each week.
The board has been troubled lately over deep internal divisions and
criticism of its Middle East broadcasts. Members of the Arab news media
have said its broadcasts are American propaganda.
People involved in the inquiry said that investigators had already
interviewed a significant number of officials at the agency and that, if
the accusations were substantiated, they could involve criminal violations.
Last July, the inspector general at the State Department opened an inquiry
into Mr. Tomlinson's work at the board of governors after Representative
Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, and Senator Christopher J. Dodd,
Democrat of Connecticut, forwarded accusations of misuse of money.
The lawmakers requested the inquiry after Mr. Berman received complaints
about Mr. Tomlinson from at least one employee at the board, officials
said. People involved in the inquiry said it involved accusations that Mr.
Tomlinson was spending federal money for personal purposes, using board
money for corporation activities, using board employees to do corporation
work and hiring ghost employees or improperly qualified employees.
Through an aide at the broadcasting board, Mr. Tomlinson declined to
comment Friday about the State Department inquiry.
In recent weeks, State Department investigators have seized records and
e-mail from the Broadcasting Board of Governors, officials said. They have
shared some material with the inspector general at the corporation,
including e-mail traffic between Mr. Tomlinson and White House officials
including Karl Rove, a senior adviser to President Bush and a close friend
of Mr. Tomlinson.
Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson became friends in the 1990's when they served on
the Board for International Broadcasting, the predecessor agency to the
board of governors. Mr. Rove played an important role in Mr. Tomlinson's
appointment as chairman of the broadcasting board.
The content of the e-mail between the two officials has not been made
public but could become available when the corporation's inspector general
sends his report to members of Congress this month.
That inspector general examined several contracts that were approved by Mr.
Tomlinson but not disclosed to board members. The contracts provided for
payments to a researcher who monitored the political content of several
shows, including "Now" with Bill Moyers, and payments to two Republican
lobbyists who were retained to help defeat a proposal in Congress that
would have required greater representation of broadcasters on the
corporation's board.
The inspector general also examined the role of a White House official,
Mary C. Andrews, in Mr. Tomlinson's creation of an ombudsman's office to
monitor the political balance of programs.
Mr. Tomlinson has said he took those steps to counter what he called a
clear liberal tilt of public broadcasting. But broadcasting executives and
critics of the corporation say the steps violated the corporation's
obligations to insulate broadcasting from politics.
On Thursday Mr. Tomlinson was forced to step down from the corporation,
which directs nearly $400 million in federal money to public radio and
television, after the board was briefed about the conclusions by its
inspector general. In that inquiry, examiners looked at accusations that
Mr. Tomlinson improperly used corporation money to promote more
conservative programming.
State Department officials said on Friday that al-Hurra, the Arabic
language satellite television network set up by the board of governors, was
also being examined by the inspector general for possibly problematic
procurement practices. That audit was first disclosed on Friday by The
Financial Times.
The audit began at the request of al-Hurra, the officials said. A statement
by the broadcasting board said that the agency had "no indication of any
wrongdoing."
The network, which receives nearly $50 million in federal financing and is
broadcast in 22 countries, was set up to compete with al-Jazeera and other
Arab news media. One State Department official said Karen P. Hughes, under
secretary of state for public diplomacy, had been briefed on the subject
and "awaits the findings of the inspector general's audit."
Copyright 2005 The NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com |
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