The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today, in the first of a series of stunning announcements, that its television subsidiary the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) will be replacing the defunct Bill Moyers Journal with a new weekly program, Ann Coulter's Far Out Journey.
The Coulter show is one of several dramatic changes to the public broadcasting network composed of PBS and its corporate sibling National Public Radio (NPR). The changes are the result of major upheavals in the wake of the firing of NPR commentator Juan Williams and covert 60 Minutes-style videos from journalist James O'Keefe showing NPR executives entertaining financial offers from "donors" they believed to be representing the Muslim Brotherhood. The shift in approach is also a direct consequence of the Republican and Tea Party victories in the U.S. House and Senate in the 2010 elections.
Liberals throughout Washington and the media were outraged at the news, with MSNBC's Chris Matthews labeling the changes a "Tea Party Media Coup." Said an indignant Bill Moyers: "Public broadcasting is ours. The American taxpayer bought and paid for this as a gift to liberalism. Who do these right-wing ideologues think they are? We had to tolerate Bill Buckley in the beginning and it was a huge mistake. Lyndon warned me the SOB would be taping those damn shows forever and we gave the guy free rein to deconstruct us for another 26 years after Lyndon died! 'The Great Society this, the Great Society that. Ronald Reagan thinks this, Xerxes said that.' My God! Never again! It's outrageous to think conservatives have any say about the operation of public broadcasting. Just pay the bill and shut up!"
New York Times columnist and PBS analyst David Brooks reportedly sniffed: "These Tea Party people don't even have creases in their pants."
