Massachusetts News 

August 2--Many people are wondering if Massachusetts News is responsible for the "whistleblowing" into the conduct of WGBH and other public television stations across the country. 

The revelation that WGBH has been providing the names of its contributors to the Democratic National Committee has created protests from many people. However, the significance of the story has been missed by most, according to some observers. 

The most important thing, according to list brokers who sell lists of names, is that all organizations wish to buy the names of people who have similar tastes and attitudes. Therefore, the crucial point to notice is not whether WGBH broke any tax laws or ethical standards, but that they went to Democratic donors to raise their money, not to Republicans. 

"This confirms that WGBH programming has a very liberal slant and is much closer with the beliefs of the Democrats, and they all know it," one list broker stated. "Otherwise, they would have wanted to get the names of Republicans, not Democrats." 

The Vice President for Communications at WGBH, Jeanne Hopkins, confirmed that the Republicans were not approached for a list. 

This endorses what many people have said for years, that the network has a liberal bias. A study of 73 PBS programs by the Media Research Center produced between 1990 and 1993 found that only two could be considered conservative. 

Story Broke In Beginning of May 

The story about WGBH first surfaced in the beginning of May, but it appeared only one time on the back pages of the Boston papers. It was a dead issue when Massachusetts News put it on the front page of its June edition, which was mailed to 170,000 homes across Massachusetts and to many conservatives and others in Washington. 

The June edition was still being delivered to many homes in the middle of June. The story broke in Congress on Tuesday, July 13, which was well over a month after it was printed in the Boston papers and only a few days after it went to readers of Massachusetts News. 

"There is no question that you had a lot to do with publicizing this story," one commentator stated. 

Tried to Deny It 

The original response from WGBH was to say that it was a mistake and it had only happened one time. It said that the mistake was made by a low-level employee, but it did not say who that employee was so that the statement could be verified. Then the Democratic National Committee revealed that it had been sharing information with WGBH for many years and not just one time as the station had claimed. It also said that the station approached it in 1993 and had been sharing names ever since. 

It was then discovered that other PBS stations have also been exchanging names with the Democrats. 

Meanwhile, the General Manager of the station, Jonathan Abbott, finally admitted that the Democrats were correct and it had been happening for years. But he denied any wrong-doing, i.e. no law had been broken and no ethical standard had been violated. He still did not reveal the name of the "low level employee." 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is warning all its member stations that it "does not condone the providing of the lists to partisan political organizations," but other observers find it difficult to believe that they did not know. 

Because of the incident, it appears as though PBS may not receive the full funding it had originally expected from Congress. 

Liberal Bias 

The Publisher of Massachusetts News experienced the liberal bias of PBS when he appeared as a guest on its local radio station, WBUR, in January. He was a guest after writing his article about what is being taught in the schools of Massachusetts about homosexuality. His viewpoint was not popular with the liberals. 

When he appeared as a guest, the interview was taped and then carefully edited to help the liberal slant before it was broadcast. In addition, it was apparent that the show had been discussed with the opposition guest beforehand. A transcript of the entire interview before and after the taping can be found here. 

Some Congressmen say it is difficult to understand the need for a government-funded television and radio network which is obviously going to have a partisan point-of-view. They said that no one would favor creating a federal newspaper which would be obligated to the politicians. They wonder why a radio or television station would be any different. 

The incident was uncovered when a 5-year-old Wellesley boy received a fund-raising letter from the Democrats. The boy's mother, Jody Black, had made a donation to WGBH in her and her son's name last fall, which is how his name got on the station's list and into the hands of the Democratic National Committee.