Several public broadcasting officials point with cynicism to Tomlinson's other Washington role: He is chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency that oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other federally funded outlets that broadcast government-sponsored news and information around the world.
How, some ask, can a man so intimately involved in the Bush administration's efforts to polish its image put politics aside when it comes to running the CPB, an agency created by Congress in 1967 expressly to give public broadcasting "maximum protection from extraneous [political] interference and control."
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before the start of the Iraq war, for example, Tomlinson touted the BBG's role in disseminating information that provided support for an attack. He praised Radio Sawa -- a federally-funded Arabic-language service -- for broadcasting then-Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations about Iraq's weapons programs as well as other programs that "re-examined the evidence supporting America's case against Saddam Hussein."
Tomlinson's critics see another political connection at work, too: Tomlinson, a former head of the Voice of America during the Reagan administration, served with President Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, on the board of a forerunner of the BBG during the 1990s.
Tomlinson denies any White House influence over his actions and sees no conflict in his dual chairmanships.
"All I'm trying to do is advocate that both sides be fairly represented" in news programs, he said. "There is a perception among a lot of politically sophisticated people that that balance is not always there."
Facts and Figures
It is unclear, however, how widespread that perception is. A 2003 survey, commissioned by CPB, of self-described "news and information consumers" found that 36 percent of respondents considered PBS's news coverage of the Bush administration "fair and balanced," while 46 percent offered no opinion.
Moreover, says NPR President Kevin Klose, NPR is among the few major broadcast outlets whose audience has been growing in recent years, with listenership approaching 22 million people a week.
"I think that says the American people understand and support the integrity, credibility, balance and objectivity of NPR's programming," he said.
But Tomlinson dismisses CPB's own findings about public attitudes. "Polls are essentially meaningless in the absence of public [scrutiny]," he says. He compares the surveys to a presidential poll taken long before the news media and electorate have begun to focus on who are the candidates.
Pressed repeatedly for examples of public broadcasting bias, Tomlinson cited only one program that he found objectionable: Moyers's show, "Now." (Moyers left the program in December, but the show is still on the air with a new host.) Tomlinson's animus for Moyers's program was such that he hired a consultant last year to track the political leanings of his guests on "Now." That decision prompted two congressmen, John Dingell (D-Mich.) and David Obey (D-Wis.), to request an investigation by the CPB's inspector general this month to ascertain whether Tomlinson had become "a source of political interference into public broadcasting" rather than "a shield" against such interference, as Congress intended.
Tomlinson says two other broadcasts were brought to his attention for their alleged bias by lawmakers:
