More partisan meddling at CPB?

Okay, I freely admit that it's possible I'm reading too much into this. After all, this is a quote from a newspaper. And it's a "juicy quote", meaning some reporter or editor saw a quote and realized it made the person look really good/bad...and that's the sort of thing readers just eat up. Never forget that newspapers exist to sell themselves, not to educate readers. Ditto for radio and TV, I might add...but I digress.

That all said, here's something Warren Bell said to the LA Times about his recess appointment by President Bush to the board of CPB. Bell's nomination had been stalled in the Senate since September, no doubt due in part to Bell's reputation as a staunch conservative and his (apparently) total lack of any public broadcasting experience.

Here's the "juicy quote" in the LA Times article:

Bell, executive producer of ABC's According to Jim said in an
interview that he hopes to strengthen public broadcasting during his time on the
board. He added that the nomination process "has not been a lot of fun."

"The whole thing completely blindsided me," Bell said. "I don't think I was remotely aware of what a hot spot public broadcasting is politically."

Okay, so you've got a guy who's just been appointed to the CPB board, and he wasn't even "remotely aware" of what a hot spot public broadcasting is politically?!?!? Give me a break! Especially after all the brouhaha over Ken Tomlinson.

I hope Bell will decide to learn from the experience and try to do his best to accomplish what's good for CPB, but I'm not holding my breath. Bush appointees historically have seem determined to do only one thing with CPB - destroy public broadcasting. And it's obvious Bush is trying to "sneak this one in" before the Democrats come in to the Senate and kill any chance of Bell making it in.

sigh