Conservatives on PBS may be illegal

A breaking story (though knowing the tendency of Drudge Report developing story links to die quickly the text is reproduced here).

DEM CONGRESSMEN: CONSERVATIVE VOICES ON PBS MAY BE ILLEGAL

Two congressional Democrats called Wednesday for an investigation into recent activities by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, suggesting that efforts by the Republican chairman of the private nonprofit to add more conservative programs onto PBS may violate federal law.

In a letter released Wednesday evening, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., asked CPB Inspector General Kenneth A. Konz to investigate the contracting, hiring and policies of the corporation, which distributes federal funds to public television stations. Both congressmen are ranking Democrats on committees that have oversight of public television.

They called recent actions taken by CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson ``disturbing'' and ``extremely troubling.''

A CPB spokesman could not be reached for comment. But in a recent interview with the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Tomlinson defended his efforts to expand conservative perspectives on PBS, saying he merely wants to increase the network's audience.

This is worth following and fighting.

A couple of initial thoughts here. All this time when people (like me) say that PBS is hard-left leaning the general response from the left is "it's just news". Well, we all know that is not true. Dan Rather was just news, too, but there was a very obvious bias there. Same thing with Don Shelby, Al Franken and MSNBC.

The fact that one of the furthest left Congressmen (John Dingell--D-MI) is upset at PBS trying to add balance by "expanding conservative perspectives" shows that the left knows there is a left-leaning, non-marketable bias on PBS. The very fact that freaks like Garrison Keillor has had his show on the air for more than one season is testament to the fact that PBS carries programs that would be unable to survive in the real world of ratings.

The other thought here is that since PBS is a tax-financed organization there should be views that better represent the majority of the country. The Fairness Doctrine should apply in one venue: public broadcast.

Prediction: with the abysmal failure of Air America in the free market, and the pending infiltration of balance on PBS watch for the left to start pushing for the Fairness Doctrine on all broadcast radio...and conspicuously print and television will not be included in those proposals.