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Corporation for Public Broadcasting

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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting logo, used from 1969 to 2000.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private non-profit corporation which is chartered and funded by the United States Federal Government to promote public broadcasting. The CPB was created on November 7, 1967 when U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. CPB initially collaborated with the pre-existing National Educational Television network, but in 1969 decided to start its own network, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). PBS began officially on-air in October 1970, after NET was forced by the CPB and the Ford Foundation to merge with the New York City public station, WNDT-TV (now called WNET-TV) or face funding withdrawal. CPB and Ford made the demand because NET produced some controversial public affairs programming (e.g., the Vietnam War, race relations) that drew the ire of conservative critics, including several local stations. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides some funding for the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio (NPR), but much more of its funding goes to public television and radio stations that are members of PBS or NPR, as well as to other broadcasters that are independent of those organizations. In more recent years, CPB has started funding some Internet-based projects.

Funding of and by CPB

The CPB annual budget is funded almost entirely by federal appropriations. In 2005, unrestricted revenues summed to $480.4 million, $386.8 million of which come from congress' allocation to the corporation's general fund. (Other federal funds were earmarked for particular projects, mostly infrastructure development.)^[1] About 90% of the 2005 budget was distributed to public broadcasters across the country, including both local and national organizations.^[2] CPB also distributes money directly to PBS and NPR to fund both programming and equipment. In 2004, for instance, about US$38 million went to PBS itself and about US$2 million went to NPR itself. Although these direct contributions may seem small, CPB indirectly provides very substantial funding to both PBS and NPR, as public radio and television stations feed a significant portion of their budgets back to PBS and NPR through their purchase of network programming. Stations which receive CPB funds must meet certain certification requirements, such as to maintain or provide:

Open Meetings
Open Financial Records
Community Advisory Board
Equal Employment Opportunity
Donor List and Political Activities

Political Composition of the CPB Board

The CPB has nine board members who serve six-year terms and are selected by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. Presently (May 2007) the CPB board contains five Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent. According to the Public Broadcasting Act, the White House cannot appoint persons of the same political party to more than 5 of the 9 CPB board seats. Thus, President George W. Bush may not appoint another Republican to the one vacant seat.

Conservative appointments^[2]^[3]^[4]

Under the administration of George W. Bush, the board has one more Republican than Democrat (with one independent member as well), and there have been complaints by people within PBS and NPR that the CPB is starting to push a conservative agenda^[5], while board members counter that they are merely seeking balance. Polls of the PBS and NPR audiences in 2002 and 2003 indicated that few felt that the groups' news reports contained bias, and those that saw a slant were split as to which side they believed the reports favored. The President of the CPB, Patricia Harrison, is the former Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee; its chair is Cheryl Halpern, a Republican. The charge of a conservative agenda reached a head in 2005. The point man of the controversy, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, was the chair of the CPB board from September 2003 until September 2005. During his time as Chair, he drew the anger of PBS and NPR supporters by unilaterally commissioning a study of alleged bias of the PBS show, NOW with Bill Moyers, conducted by a conservative colleague, and by appointing two conservatives as CPB Ombudsmen. On November 3, 2005, Tomlinson resigned from the board in the face of allegations of scandal. A report of his tenure by the CPB Inspector General, Kenneth Konz, requested by House Democrats, prompted his resignation. On November 15, the report was made public. It found evidence that "the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) former Chairman violated statutory provisions and the Director’s Code of Ethics by dealing directly with one of the creators of a new public affairs program during negotiations with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the CPB over creating the show." It also "found evidence that suggests “political tests” were a major criteria used by the former Chairman in recruiting a President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for CPB, which violated statutory prohibitions against such practices".^[6]

Board members

These eight board members are in office as of February 2007 (one seat currently vacant):

Cheryl Halpern (chair), Republican, nominated January 2003 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by the U.S. Senate November 2003.
Gay Hart Gaines (vice chair), Republican, nominated December 2003 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by the U.S. Senate November 2004.
Beth Courtney, Independent, nominated April 2003 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by the U.S. Senate November 2003.
Warren Bell, first nominated June 20, 2006, by President George W. Bush. His confirmation was blocked, and on December 20, 2006, Bush appointed Bell as a recess nominee.
Claudia Puig, Republican, nominated December 2003 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by U.S. Senate November 2004.
Ernest J. Wilson III, Democrat, nominated to first term by President Clinton in 2000. Renominated to second term November 2004 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by Senate November 2004.
former Senator David H. Pryor, Democrat, nominated June 2006 by President George W. Bush and confirmed September 2006 by the U.S. Senate.
Chris Boskin, Republican, nominated June 2006 by President George W. Bush and confirmed September 2006 by the U.S. Senate.