Un-Political PBS

PBS head Republican Kenneth Tompson [appointed] and Corporation for Public Broadcasting's new Republican president Patricia S. Harrison [also appointed] aren't vying to change the political make-up of public broadcasting... And if you don't believe them, just ask them!

The corporation's new president, Patricia S. Harrison, also appeared at the hearing. Harrison is a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee and has been criticized as too partisan for the new post. She pledged to be impartial.

"I feel confident that I'm a fair person, that I have a great deal of integrity, and that nobody owns me," she said. "Plus, I come from Brooklyn, New York, and I'm an Italian American."

Wow, that cleared it up for me. You see, she's impartial because she SAYS she is!

In fact, there's a more distructive method of argument at work here: she would also not deny her role as a key player in national Republican politics- because, you see, her line of argument is that the Repubican party itself is "fair" with a great deal of unowned integrity. And that that Other party is... well...

As for Tomlinson, he too denies that he's in the game for a political purpose:

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, a Republican, has come under fire in recent months for complaining about "Now with Bill Moyers" — saying the television show's "left-wing bias" was unhealthy and jeopardized support for public broadcasting. Moyers has since left the show.

Tomlinson's hiring of GOP lobbyists and a consultant to track the political leaning of guests on Moyers' show also has raised the ire of Democratic lawmakers and public-interest groups, and it is the subject of an investigation by the corporation's inspector general.

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Tomlinson dismissed charges that he is angling to turn public TV into a political pawn of the Republican Party.

He said he was trying to achieve political balance by backing creation of the conservative-leaning "Journal Editorial Report," hosted by the editor of The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

"If you have a liberal show, have a conservative show. If you have a conservative show, have a liberal show," he said. "This is, to me, common sense, and it's good for public broadcasting."

A common sense which Tomlinson apparently possesses and which the majority of Americans do not, as most Americans already believe that PBS is operating without any significant political bias. In fact, if you apply Tomlinson's method of adding conservative shows to the lineup for "balance" to America's perception of an unbiased broadcast network, you get...

A Conservative Network!

Or at least the American perception of one.

Any way you slice it, the thinking's the same: "I'm not doing this with political motivation, just ask me!"