Right-Wing Coup at NPR, PBS?

Timothy Karr of MediaCitizen and Free Press says the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been stampeded by elephants.

His case:

Since taking up her post as CPB President in June, Patricia de Stacy Harrison — the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee — has brought in senior officers from the State Department’s “Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy” division, the group that oversees efforts to “advance U.S. interests and security and to provide the moral basis for U.S. leadership in the world.”

Each of the new hires had previously served under Harrison when she was assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs and acting undersecretary for public affairs and public diplomacy.

“Public diplomacy” is gov-speak for propaganda. The packing of the CPB with individuals more comfortable with selling U.S. propaganda than with honest journalism sends a not-so-subtle signal to those working in public broadcasting that truth is out and government spin is in.

Personally, I think the idea of apolitical public broadcasting is a little like the idea of an independent judiciary: unattainable, but worth striving for nonetheless.

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