In the wake of the resignation of NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller, after a video sting by James O’Keefe became public, comes word that a PBS executive also met with the fake pro-Muslim charity.

Lucky for liberals, PBS didn’t bite like former NPR executive Ron Schiller did when he trashed the Tea Party by calling them “White middle-America gun toting racists,” and added that NPR doesn’t need government funding.

The target, PBS’s senior vice president for development Brian Reddington, couldn’t confirm the details of O’Keefe’s Muslim Education Action Center Trust and passed on any potential donation.

What really worries PBS  is whether or not there is an NPR-like tape just waiting to be released.

As Business Insider reports:

Anne Bentley, a PBS spokeswoman, tells the NYT she has “no sense at all” of whether Mr. Reddington was secretly taped during that lunch but she declined to comment about whether they are worried (they must be).

O’Keefe may be holding back but I would think that if he had anything as damning as the NPR video he would have released it by now which would have dealt a body blow to further taxpayer funding of public broadcasting.

The controversy surrounding NPR led to the following statement by  the Corporation for Public Broadcasting:

For nearly fifty years, the federal investment in public broadcasting has helped to strengthen our society. Public broadcasting educates our children, increases our sense of community as Americans, and provides a respectful non-commercial alternative on a hyper-commercial media landscape.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is responsible for the health and vitality of public broadcasting in the United States and the investment of taxpayer dollars in locally owned and controlled public broadcasting stations and national producers and distributors of content such as PBS and NPR.

Recent events involving NPR officials have not reflected the values and aspirations of public broadcasting. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is committed to fair, balanced, objective, and transparent journalism that reflects a variety of viewpoints. The Corporation is committed to editorial standards that clearly separate decisions about content from financial or political considerations. We demand respect for all Americans whatever their racial or ethnic background, political belief, educational level, or occupation.

The Corporation condemns the unprofessional conduct and offensive statements by Mr. Schiller and Ms. Liley that are inconsistent with these values. We will continue to work with our local station and national network partners to achieve these values and we will support NPR in its search for a Chief Executive who can strengthen NPR and fulfill them.

That statement was apparently issued before the PBS link came to light. Although Reddington didn’t fall prey to O’Keefe’s sting, it still begs the question as to why he would meet with this organization in the first place?

Let’s just say a lack of judgment courses through the veins of public broadcasting in general, another good reason why we shouldn’t be paying for it.

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