PUBLIC TELEVISION

POLITICS

I bet most people, when they hear about public television, they think that its free from bias of any shape or form, that it's fair and balanced to all sides of the discussion.

But there is a secret that they haven't told you. Public television is controled by and entity called the Coperation of Public Broadcasting. This entity was created by Congress in 1967, and receives approximately $400 million dollars a year from Congress. The directors are picked by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

What brought this all to light is the firing of Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the former head of the CPA. An investigation showed that Tomlinson has used public moneys to do political background checks on the guest of Bill Moyers' "NOW' program. He also made secret payments to two republican lobbyist. It appears that Tomlinson was trying to slant the programing to the conservative side, totally against the "fair and balanced" mission of Public Broadcasting. Although, with Republicans in control of Congres and with them providing the funding, they weren't complaining about the situation. But now, two Democrats are looking into the situation, Representatives David R. Obey of Wisconsin and John D. Dingell of Michigan.

Although appointed to the CPB Board by President Clinton. Tomlinson has strong ties to the Republicans, including Presidential advisor Karl Rove.