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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/business/media/16radio.html?
A Battle Over Programming at National Public Radio
(New York Times) Stephen Labaton - Executives at National Public Radio are increasingly at odds with the Bush appointees who lead the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is considering a plan to monitor Middle East coverage on NPR news programs for evidence of bias, a corporation spokesman said on Friday. Top officials at NPR and member stations are upset as well about the corporation's decision to appoint two ombudsmen to judge the content of programs for balance. Last year, without notifying board members or NPR, the corporation's chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, contacted S. Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a research group, about conducting a study on whether NPR's Middle East coverage was more favorable to Arabs than to Israelis, although corporation officials had not moved ahead with the project. Other officials said Tomlinson had heard complaints about the coverage from a board member, Cheryl Halpern, a former chairwoman of the Republican Jewish Coalition and leading party fund-raiser. The corporation has also heard complaints from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.).