Public media on the defensive

Second item of the day in re. the "on the defensive" theme: Tom Ashbrook of NPR's On Point makes a profoundly reasonable plea for sanity to the CPB's Ken Tomlinson. First, Ashbrook, writing in the Boston Globe, states the well-known facts of the case:

Now the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board is dominated by appointees of a Republican, George W. Bush. But NPR's listeners self-identify themselves across the American political spectrum -- one-third conservative, one-third liberal, and one-third independent. Repeated surveys ordered up by Tomlinson himself have found that large majorities of listeners do not hear liberal bias at NPR. For its latest survey the corporation commissioned two polling firms, one Republican and one Democrat. They found that fewer than 15 percent of Americans say that NPR coverage of the war or the Bush administration is slanted. And 80 percent of Americans say they have an overall favorable impression of NPR. Those are pretty darned good numbers. And, yet, the swords are drawn in Washington.

Ashbrook wants to know, "How do we move beyond this?" I'm not sure. Tomlinson is part of a general pattern of right-wing intimidation that is manifesting itself across the U.S. news spectrum. And he notes the resonance of Soviet-style information control in the reported desire by the CPB to replace hard news with more music. I truly fear his pleas to Tomlinson will fall on deaf ears. After all, Ashbrook reminds us that Tomlinson "has singled out Bill Moyers at PBS for criticism, even as Moyers has departed and PBS has -- at the direction of the corporation -- brought on the conservative Tucker Carlson and editors of The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial page." What's more, "Last month, despite objections from NPR, which already had an active ombudsman, the corporation appointed its own ombudsmen -- one right leaning and one left -- to monitor public broadcasting content for political slant. This is almost certain to raise partisan tensions and tempt more intervention."

I'm sure Tomlinson will ignore Ashbrook's plea for sense, But I hope NPR stations will not ignore Ashbrook's admonition to them:

Don't retreat. Do reach out. Don't shrink back. Be more bold. Don't rest on those poll numbers. Know that this whole country, with all the people in it, is your ideal audience. The whole population -- red states, blue states, everybody. So speak to all. Listen to all. Test every assertion and premise. And be journalistically critical of all. Not in a desperate balancing act between parties and competing agendas. The goal is not to balance two spins. But listen and dig for honesty, for the understanding and insight the whole country needs. Does that sound difficult in this divided time? Yes, but that's the job.