I just noticed that NPR--talks less and less of Iraq and zero on
Palestine. The MacDonald empire-donated $20 million-on
condition--Palestine-bad, Israel good.
Now, the zionist Bush has appointed the Chair and conditions on
funding----JEW princes--read it on Librty.com--odd-I was banned
a year ago--on just questioning the sicko Bush as a Jew Heb turn
coat.
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CHERYL F. Halpern, a major Republican fundraiser, has been
elected the new chairwoman of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB). The private, nonprofit corporation, created
by Congress in 1967, describes itself as “the largest single
source of funding for public television and radio programming.”
Halpern has served on the CPB board since 2002, and has
criticized National Public Radio’s Middle East coverage, calling
it biased against Israel. She has overseen such U.S.
government-funded media projects as Voice of America, Radio
Marti in Cuba and Radio Free Iraq. Formerly chairwoman for the
Republican Jewish Coalition, Halpern currently sits on the board
of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a spinoff of
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel’s
Washington, DC lobby. In 2001 she used her own personal funds to
commission a review of anti-Semitism in Syrian textbooks.
Halpern was a delegate from the Coordinating Board of Jewish
Organizations to the 4th United Nations World Conference on
Women’s Rights in 1995 in Beijing, and from 1998 to 2002 chaired
the United Nations Advisory Council of B’nai B’rith
International. Halpern’s selection as CPB chair, warned the
citizens’ group Common Cause, may “mean more politicizing for
public broadcasting.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Halpern’s family has business
interests in Israel. She is married to Fredrick Michael Halpern,
a real estate developer born in Bayreuth, Bavaria, who is a
member of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith as well as
of AIPAC. The couple has three children.
In her new role Halpern will oversee distribution of the $400
million in funds for public radio and television stations that
CPB receives from Congress. In mid-October, conservative House
Republicans proposed that taxpayer support for CPB be eliminated
as part of a cost-cutting effort to pay for repairing the damage
from Hurricane Katrina. Indeed, for many years some Republicans
have sought to permanently eliminate CPB’s public funding.
At her 2002 confirmation hearing for a position on the CPB board
of directors, Halpern suggested that journalists in public
broadcasting need to be punished for editorializing in programs.
A spokeswoman for National Public Radio, Andi Sporkin,
criticized the corporation under the chairmanship of Kenneth Y.
Tomlinson, Halpern’s predecessor, who conceived, but did not
implement, a plan to monitor NPR for anti-Israel bias: The Sept.
27 Los Angeles Times quoted Sporkin as saying, “The events at
CPB over the last six months have been disappointing for public
radio as we’ve watched an organization that has supported public
broadcasting for four decades, and through all administrations,
become an instrument of ideology and agenda. Our hope is that
the new leadership acknowledges the value Congress and millions
of Americans have placed on public broadcasting’s service and
integrity, restores the vital fire wall, and rights the course
of CPB.”
For people who have generally supported NPR, Halpern’s
appointment will come as a shock. Some people may shift their
voluntary contributions to such alternatives as Pacifica Radio.
Others may withhold their contributions from their local public
television and radio stations as long as Halpern is in charge of
who gets CPB funding and hope for a better day in the next year
or two.
Excellent PBS Documentary
“Elusive Peace: Israel and the Palestinians” is an
excellent150-minute PBS documentary covering the entire history
of the Arab-Israeli conflict. For those new to the subject as
well as for those who just want to review it, there are few
better resources. While people on all sides of the issue will
wish that some elements had been included, given the fact that
the imbroglio has gone on for more than a century the film is a
remarkable achievement.
Although it’s remarkable that the film was aired at all, it
unfortunately was not widely publicized, at least not in the
Washington, DC area. Hopefully it will be re-broadcast—although
given the situation described above, that may be an increasingly
dubious eventuality. Not willing to wait, however, the AET Book
Club has taken matters into its own hands and is making the
documentary available at $24.99.To order a copy, call (800)
368-5788, ext. 2. You’ll be glad you did.
Richard H. Curtiss is executive editor of the Washington Report
on Middle East Affairs.
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