Where's Kenneth Tomlinson when you really need him? The former PBS watchdog who couldn't sleep at night knowing taxpayer money was being used for programming he thought was not fair and balanced, Tomlinson would seem to be the perfect candidate to fix the bias problem at the publicly funded American Forces Radio, which, as the Washington Post reports today, just stiffed the one progressive talk show host deemed worthy enough of the network.
Heard around the world in over 175 countries, U.S. territories and aboard U.S. Navy ships, AFR, formerly known as Armed Forces Radio, was created by the War Department in 1942 to improve troop morale by giving service members a "touch of home" with American programs overseas. Today the network reaches an audience of nearly one million listeners and offers an eclectic range of options, from live sports telecasts to news from CNN, ABC and others; NPR long-form shows ("Car Talk," "Morning Edition"), along with and country, rock and pop music programming.
And Rush Limbaugh.
Despite the fact Department of Defense guidelines for AFR specifically state, "All political programming shall be characterized by its fairness and balance," Limbaugh's program for years has been the only long form political talk show broadcast on the network. That meant that throughout the 2004 presidential campaign Limbaugh was given the exclusive privilege of broadcasting to service members—and eligible voters—and talk about how Democrats "hate" America, how John Kerry was a "gigolo" and how, "If you want the terrorists running the show, then you will elect John Kerry."
Last month, it looked like AFR executives were finally going to live up to their own programming guidelines when they announced progressive Ed Schultz's successful syndicated show would be added to the military programming schedule. Then yesterday morning the Pentagon, offering little explanation, pulled the plug. Maybe Rush doesn't like competition.