Editing Bill Moyers (section)

==Conflict with CPB over content==
In 2003, [[Corporation for Public Broadcasting]] chairman [[Kenneth Tomlinson]] wrote to [[Pat Mitchell]], the president of PBS, that ''[[NOW with Bill Moyers]]'' "does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting."<ref name="lehrer05">{{cite web |url= https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june05/cpb_6-21.html |title= Public Broadcasting Under Fire |date=June 21, 2005 |work=[[NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]] |publisher= [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |access-date=February 14, 2010}}</ref> In 2005, Tomlinson commissioned a study of the show, without informing or getting authorization from the CPB board.<ref>Labaton, Stephen (November 16, 2005). [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/politics/16broadcast.html "Ex-Chairman of Public Broadcasting Violated Laws, Inquiry Suggests"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113155138/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/politics/16broadcast.html |date=January 13, 2015 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>  The study was conducted by Fred Mann, Tomlinson's choice, a 20-year veteran of the American Conservative Union and a conservative columnist. Like the study itself, Mann's appointment was not disclosed to the CPB.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Labaton|first=Stephen|date=2005-06-21|title=Public Broadcasting Monitor Had Worked at Center Founded by Conservatives|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/politics/public-broadcasting-monitor-had-worked-at-center-founded-by.html|access-date=February 22, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Tomlinson said that the study supported what he characterized as "the image of the left-wing bias of NOW".<ref name="cpbbode">{{cite web |last=Bode |first=Ken A. |title=CPB Ombudsmen Reports: The Question Of "Balance"|date=September 1, 2005 |url= http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/display.php?id=6 |access-date=June 17, 2010 }}</ref> [[George Neumayr]], the executive editor of ''[[The American Spectator]]'', a conservative magazine, told the ''[[NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]]'' that "PBS looks like a liberal monopoly to me, and Bill Moyers is Exhibit A of that very strident, left-wing bias... [Moyers] uses his show as a platform from which to attack conservatives and Republicans."<ref name="lehrer05" />

The Reporters Committee on the Freedom of the Press was vocal about the danger of the CPB chairman interfering with programming independence.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Screening for bias|url=https://www.rcfp.org/journals/the-news-media-and-the-law-summer-2005/screening-bias/|access-date=February 22, 2022|website=The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press|language=en-US}}</ref> The PBS Ombudsman and the Free Press noted that a poll taken in 2003 by the CPB itself found that 80 percent of Americans believe PBS to be "fair and balanced."<ref>{{Cite press release|title=Bill Moyers to Address PBS Controversy at National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis|url=https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/bill-moyers-address-pbs-controversy-national-conference-media-reform-st-louis|date=May 12, 2005|access-date=February 22, 2022|website=[[Free Press (advocacy group)|Free Press]]|language=en}}</ref>  In a speech given to [[The National Conference for Media Reform]], Moyers said that he had repeatedly invited Tomlinson to have a televised conversation with him on the subject but had been ignored.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 15, 2005 |title=Bill Moyers' speech to the National Conference for Media Reform |url=http://www.freepress.net/news/8120 |access-date=February 22, 2022 |website=[[Free Press (advocacy group)|Free Press]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704160613/http://www.freepress.net/news/8120 |archive-date=4 July 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On November 3, 2005, Tomlinson resigned from the board, prompted by a report of his tenure by the CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz, requested by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The report, which found that Tomlinson violated the Director's Code of Ethics and the statutory provisions of the CPB and PBS, was made public on November 15. It states:<blockquote>We 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. Our review also found evidence that suggests "political tests" were a major criteria [<nowiki/>''[[sic]]''] used by the former Chairman in recruiting a President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for CPB, which violated statutory prohibitions against such practices.</blockquote>In 2006, the PBS Ombudsman, whose role was reinvigorated by the controversy published a column entitled "He's Back: Moyers, not Tomlinson." Reflecting on the conflict, Moyers told ''The Boston Globe'': "It's a place where if you fight you can survive, but it's not easy. The fact of the matter is that Kenneth Tomlinson had a chilling effect down the line."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Moyers: "Tomlinson had a chilling effect" |url=https://current.org/2006/10/moyers-tomlinson-had-a-chilling-effect/ |date=October 16, 2006 |access-date=February 22, 2022 |website=Current (publication of [[American University School of Communication]])|language=en-US}}</ref>