[Peace] PBS is under attack

[Josh Silver, Exec. Director]

Dear Media Reformer:

PBS is in jeopardy. Today's New York Times describes secret efforts by Republican operatives to make our Public Broadcasting System more "fair and balanced." 

Kenneth Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) -- the government-funded organization that was designed to shield PBS from political pressure -- is aggressively pressing PBS to correct what he considers "liberal bias."

He secretly hired a White House staffer to help draft "guiding principles" for the future of CPB. He brought in a consultant to monitor the "anti-Bush" and "anti-Tom Delay" content on Bill Moyers' NOW program, and then set up and funded right-wing commentator Paul Gigot's new PBS program. Now Tomlinson is working behind the scenes to stack CPB's board and executive offices with Republican Party cronies.

Here's how we can stop them. Join our call to Congress, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS station managers to:

1. Remove Kenneth Tomlinson from the CPB board.

2. Return PBS to the people by holding local town meetings in your community. The public -- not partisan political operatives -- should decide what they want from PBS.

Add your name to the letter now by visiting http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs .

Tomlinson told the Times that he's trying to restore "objectivity and balance" to public broadcasting. This top-down partisan meddling goes against the very nature of PBS and the local stations we trust. Let the people speak and decide the future of PBS, not secret dealings by White House operatives.

Send your message now -- and forward this letter to all of your friends and colleagues, asking them to do the same.

Onward,

Josh Silver
Executive Director
www.freepress.net

P.S. -- To learn more, read the recent report on "Building a Public Broadcasting System that Deserves Public Support" by Free Press, Consumers Union, Common Cause, Media Access Project and the Consumer Federation of America. You can find a link to it at http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=64 .

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