Finding Bias, the CPB Way

Reviewing: Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, Republican hatchet-man and Bush-appointed chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the agency that disburses about $400 million in federal tax funds to public broadcasters, advanced the "company line" about liberal bias in the media, especially public radio and TV, and secretly hired a mysterious "consultant," one Frederick W. Mann, to "prove" the bias was there. Mann, bless his heart, kept a tally sheet where he wrote down such qualifiers as "liberal," "conservative," "neutral," or "pro-Bush," "anti-Bush," "support administration," "oppose administration" while he watched PBS or listened to programs on National Public Radio. Mann's so-called "research" cost us taxpayers $14,000. Until yesterday Mann's "report" remained secret, but Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who obtained a copy of it, released it to the press.

And now we know ... that Mann listed conservatives such as Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and former congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.) as "liberal" and "anti-administration" apparently for briefly expressing views that differed from administration policy. Hagel has criticized El Presidente's Iraq policy and Barr has never liked the USA Patriot Act.

Pro-administration cheerleading like Fox News's is "unbiased." Reporting that Sen. Hagel and Bob Barr have problems with some administration policies ... why, that's outrageous "liberal bias."

Got it!