Petrelis Files

In a message dated 5/19/2005 11:01:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, slabaton@yahoo.com writes:

Mr. Petrelis:

Thank you for sending me a copy of your note to Mr.
Okrent. The first article you mention states that Mr.
Tomlinson joined the board in Sept. 2000. I think most
readers know that Mr. Clinton was president then. Mr.
Tomlinson remains on the board only because he was
reappointed by President Bush.

-Stephen Labaton

Dear Mr. Labaton:

Thanks for replying to my note. I must disagree with you about what most readers may have thought after reading what you reported about how Kenneth Tomlinson got on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Citing a former member of the board, you wrote on May 2, "But once Mr. Tomlinson, a former editor in chief of Reader's Digest, joined in September 2000 and President Bush's election changed the board's political composition, the tenor changed, she said." Some readers may interpret that to mean he applied for the board without the involvement of former President Clinton.

Also, your stories did not report on President Bush reappointing Tomlinson to the CPB board, as you note in your reply.

I wish that in one your stories you had reported something along the lines of what Paul Farhi wrote in today's Washington Post related to Tomlinson and the former and current president: "Tomlinson, who was appointed to the CPB board by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and was named chairman by President Bush in September 2003, has also caused unease within public broadcasting circles with a series of recent hires." (Source: Wash Post)

As it now stands, Washington Post readers have the full picture about how Tomlinson got on the CPB board and eventually became chairman, but NY Times readers don't.

Regards,
Michael Petrelis
San Francisco, CA