Thus the protestors are ultra-left I suppose. Too far left even for the garden variety WGBH trustee.
Environmentalists seeking to oust conservative billionaire David Koch from WGBH’s board of trustees came under fire yesterday from media watchdogs who blasted the activists for “politicizing” public broadcasting.
“If the shoe were on the other foot, I think you would have outrage in a lot of places, that someone is trying to throw somebody off a board over their personal politics,” said Bob Lichter, president of the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University.
“My God, he’s supporting NOVA,” Lichter added of the PBS science program. “If you can get a climate change skeptic to give money to NOVA, I wouldn’t try to change that. ... I may disagree with his view on climate change, but the ones who are politicizing the issue are his opponents.”
The environmental activists, buoyed by the 70,000-plus signatures they say they’ve collected, plan to make their case to the 32 trustees of the PBS flagship station Wednesday. They are demanding that Koch be jettisoned from the board because they say his heavy contributions — said to be $18.6 million since 1982 — could lead WGBH to commit acts of “journalistic self-censorship” and influence scientific programming.
Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the conservative Media Research Center, slammed the activists’ demands as “political bullying.”
“They’re basically saying, ‘I’m sorry, conservatives shouldn’t be on our board. This board is for progressives only. No conservatives need to apply,’ ” said Graham, a PBS critic who supports defunding public broadcasting. WGBH officials and Koch’s reps have brushed off charges that he wields influence in program decision-making. His company said he’s given $10 million to NOVA alone, and that he has no plans to step down in the face of the uproar around the Brighton studios.
Earlier this year, Koch resigned from the board of New York’s PBS affiliate, WNET, after it ran a critical documentary partly aimed at him.
As for WGBH’s defense that Koch has no influence on its shows, Graham of the Media Research Center said, “I would say based on the programs I’ve seen, I think they’re right about that. But as a conservative, why on earth is David Koch giving money to these people? If he thought his goal in his life is forwarding the Tea Party agenda, then put your money to something more productive than the Boston PBS affiliate. Conservatives could get mad at him for this.”