By TIM DICKINSON
Ken Tomlinson may be America's most accomplished propagandist. He got
his start as an intern for Fulton Lewis Jr., who ruled right-wing
radio when Rush Limbaugh was still in diapers. In the early 1980s,
Tomlinson ran Voice of America, promoting the policies of Ronald
Reagan to the rest of the world. As editor in chief of Reader's Digest
in the early 1990s, he published the most reliably reactionary
magazine in the country. Now, as President Bush's handpicked chairman
of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Tomlinson is in a position
to spread the Republican message to Sesame Street.
As head of the board that doles out $400 million in federal funds for
public broadcasting, Tomlinson is actually required by law to provide
PBS and NPR with "maximum protection from extraneous influence and
control" by meddling politicians. But in recent months, Tomlinson
himself has been the one trying to alter PBS programming. A close
friend of Karl Rove since they worked together overseeing Voice of
America, he hired a right-wing consultant to secretly monitor Bill
Moyers for signs of "liberal bias." He collaborated with the White
House to hire two "ombudsmen" to keep an eye on Frontline and All
Things Considered. And after President Bush was re-elected in
November, Tomlinson warned a gathering of PBS executives that the
country had moved to the right -- and that their programming should
reflect that.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7483528
Monty Solomon (