The fact that Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman Ken Tomlinson hired an outside consultant to monitor PBS programs for alleged liberalism is odd. And the fact that he did so without consulting the CPB board of directors is disturbing. But even if we put all of that aside, the story doesn’t get really strange until we consider the report Tomlinson actually received from his consultant.
The consultant, Frederick W. Mann, was secretly hired last year by Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting…. It’s still not clear what the purpose of the study was, although its conclusions comport with Tomlinson’s view that liberal comments and ideas dominate news shows on public broadcasting.
OK, so the chairman of the CPB wanted a report that showed some kind of bias in PBS programming. He secretly spent over $14,000 — in our money — to get a report that told him what he wanted to hear. But is the report reliable? And is its author, Fred Mann, a credible researcher? Not so much.
Mann, who reportedly lives in Indiana, remains something of a mystery; efforts by news organizations to reach him have been unsuccessful for weeks…. [He] never explains his labeling criteria or indicates in any detail which specific comment or comments earned a guest a particular characterization.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) pointed out that “red-blooded” conservatives such as Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and former congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.) were classified as “liberal” and “anti-administration” apparently for briefly expressing views that differed from administration policy. Dorgan called the report “kind of a nutty project” and an “amateurish attempt to prove a liberal bias,” noting Mann had apparently faxed his findings to Tomlinson from Mary Ann’s Hallmark, a card store in Indianapolis.
That Tomlinson sure knows how to pick them, doesn’t he?
One might be tempted to question Mann’s research methods, but there don’t appear to be any standards at all. Journalists were labeled “liberals” if they worked for the Washington Post. Conservative Republican lawmakers were labeled “liberals” if they didn’t back Bush’s position — as defined by Mann. And what, exactly, is a “liberal” for the purpose of Mann’s study? No one knows; he never defined his terms. To call such hackery amateurish is to give amateurs everywhere a bad name.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s inspector general is investigating the contract with Mann as a possible abuse of taxpayer funds. If the final report concludes that it was an abuse, which seems likely, expect the calls for Tomlinson’s resignation to grow.