NPR's Dvorkin mischaracterized CPB ombudsmen ... again

In a June 21 column on the National Public Radio (NPR) website, NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin wrote that Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson appointed two CPB ombudsmen -- "one for the left and one for the right."

The column marked at least the second time that Dvorkin has repeated Tomlinson's baseless characterization of CPB ombudsman Ken Bode as "left" or "liberal." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted when Dvorkin echoed Tomlinson's claim on the June 1 edition of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, ombudsman William Schulz is clearly a conservative, but Bode can hardly be called a liberal. He is an adjunct fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute, and he endorsed Indiana Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels in an October 15, 2004, Indianapolis Star commentary column.

Media Matters runs the Hands Off Public Broadcasting campaign, an effort to ensure that public broadcasting remains independent and free from political pressure and to highlight conservative misinformation in and about public broadcasting.

—S.S.M.