No Rove Influence Seen in US Public TV Boss Hiring

[SOURCE: Reuters 12/13]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s inspector general found no evidence in correspondence that White House adviser Karl Rove or other White House officials tried to influence the hiring of CPB’s new president and CEO Patricia Harrison. But CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz did tell the Washington Post last month in an interview that former CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson exchanged e-mails with Rove and he “did ask for feedback on some of the candidates.” Konz denied a request by Common Cause, Center for Digital Democracy, and Free Press to release documents and e-mails related to a report that found former CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson was motivated by politics when he hired Harrison. Konz declined to release the information because of concerns about violating individual privacy rights and compromising CPB business interests.
http://www.freepress.net/news/12843

* Inspector General's Response Deeply Disappointing, Say Reform Groups
1) "The public deserves something better than filtered information," said Common Cause President Chellie Pingree. "Surely the American people have the good sense to be able to read these e-mails and come to their own conclusions about whether Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson behaved ethically and appropriately." 2) "The Inspector General should stop stonewalling and let the public judge for itself the importance of the correspondence between Kenneth Tomlinson and the White House," said Timothy Karr, Free Press campaign director. "The CPB needs to be an honest broker, both to the public broadcasting community and to the public it serves." 3) "The Inspector-General's duties are to the public -- not to the CPB board, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "He must make the secret report to the CPB board available to the public. If he doesn't understand his role, he should resign."
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=810365&content_id={4D737A50-4160-41D9-BC66-7D0A1615270C}&notoc=1

* In the Kingdom of the Half-Blind
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Bill Moyers]
[Commentary] Moyers addresses the Bush administration's obsession with secrecy and its bullying and manipulation of PBS.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/29656/