Last week was a blockbuster one for news about media: on Thursday, the head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — a close friend of Karl Rove — was removed from the board after a negative inspector general report; he is the subject of an inquiry into misuse of public money and the use of phantom or unqualified employees.
On Tuesday, before the markets closed — and again on Thursday — investors called on Knight-Ridder to put itself on the sale block. Also on Tuesday, NBC announced it would deliver its nightly news via the web (but only for Windows viewers). On Wednesday, CNN dumped 57-year-old anchor Aaron Brown for 38-year-old Anderson Cooper and expanded Wolf Blitzer's program.
- CPB:
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson was ousted from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) after a critical inspector general report that examined his "efforts as chairman to seek more politically conservative programs on public radio and television in the United States." CPB directs about
$400 million in federal money to public radio and television.
Tomlinson had a little more than a year remaining on
his six-year term as a member of the board.In the investigation of Tomlinson, the inspector general examined several contracts that were approved by the chairman but not disclosed to board members. The contracts provided for payments to a researcher who monitored the political content of several shows, including "Now" with Bill Moyers, and payments to two Republican lobbyists who were retained to help defeat a proposal in Congress that would have required greater representation of broadcasters on the corporation's board.
Tomlinson remains the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors,
which, according its website, "oversees all non-military U.S. international broadcasting, including the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL); Radio Free Asia (RFA); Radio and TV MartÃ, and the new broadcasting initiative in the Middle East." Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, is a board member.However, he is also under investigation in that role as well. News reports say that the State Department is examining e-mails between Tomlinson and Karl Rove, a long-time friend.
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