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(COMTEX) B: PBS Updates Editorial Standards ( AP Online )

WASHINGTON, Jun 15, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The Public Broadcasting
Service is hiring an ombudsman and revising editorial practices in the face of
criticism that its programming has given short shrift to conservative views.

Changes approved by the PBS board now go to the service's funding organization,
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for its consideration, and millions of
dollars in revenue for PBS could be at stake in the corporation's review.

PBS, which rejects accusations of liberal bias, said it has been reviewing its
procedures since before Republicans in Congress moved to cut its financing. The
Republican chairman of the corporation, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, specifically
accused the show "Now with Bill Moyers" - which Moyers no longer hosts - of
featuring guests hostile to conservative views.

Meanwhile, the corporation's inspector general is investigating $15,000 in
payments that were made to two Republican lobbyists last year, according to a
report on The New York Times Web site Wednesday night. People who are involved
in the inquiry but wished to remain anonymous told the Times that one of the
lobbyists was retained at the direction of Tomlinson.

The inspector general's office is also examining $14,170 in payments to a man
who provided Tomlinson with reports about the political leanings of guests on
"Now." None of the payments were disclosed to the corporation's board, the Times
reported.

In an e-mail to the newspaper, Tomlinson responded, "We are confident that the
inspector general's report will conclude that all personnel arrangements were
and continue to be made in accordance with the statutes and rules governing
CPB's use of funds."

Revisions adopted by the PBS board include a requirement that commentary and
opinion be labeled as such, and that program producers offer more information on
how they gathered material and made their editorial decisions.

PBS also said it would hire an ombudsman to review controversial programs.

About 15 percent of PBS' budget is from the federal government, with
appropriations approved by Congress and provided through the CPB.

About $55 million in funds for a variety of programs over two years is at stake
in the CPB's review of the new standards.

Jacoba Atlas, senior vice president of programming at PBS, described the new
standards as "some refreshing, not a total overhauling in any way."

"The American public believes PBS is trusted, valued and fair ad accurate," she
said, citing various polls. "We feel our producers have been doing an excellent
job, and the 1987 editorial standards to which all our producers adhered, did
stand the test of time."

CPB has begun reviewing the 70-page document that PBS submitted, according to
spokesman Eben Peck. The corporation has until Oct. 1 to share any concerns with
PBS over the standards.

The updated standards and policies are the result of more than a year of
evaluation by PBS, it said in a statement Wednesday.

PBS created a committee of experts over a year ago to review PBS content
policies.

The updated policies are not a significant departure from those PBS has used
since 1987, PBS said. The committee noted policies need only "minimal changes
and should be altered only as necessary to reflect evolving technology and
journalistic norms," PBS said.

PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise that serves the nation's 348 public
noncommercial television stations, reaching nearly 90 million people each week.

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On the Net:

Public Broadcasting Service: http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/aboutpbs-standards.html

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By SIOBHAN McDONOUGH
Associated Press Writer

Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved

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