The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

RAY SUAREZ: Good evening. I'm Ray Suarez. Jim Lehrer is on vacation. On the NewsHour tonight, our summary of the news; then, a report on today's guilty verdict in a civil rights era murder trial; a look at the warming relationship between the United States and Vietnam; public broadcasting's latest political dust-up; and a Richard Rodriguez essay about the changing face of Los Angeles.

NEWS SUMMARY

RAY SUAREZ: A Mississippi jury convicted a former Ku Klux Klansman today in the deaths of three civil rights workers in 1964. Edgar Ray Killen is now 80 years old. He was found guilty of manslaughter in the killings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. They were helping to register black voters when they were ambushed, beaten, and shot. The verdict came 41 years to the day since the crime. James Chaney's brother, Ben, welcomed the outcome.

BEN CHANEY: I'd like to thank the judge. I think he was hard, but I think he was fair. I'd like to thank the law enforcement personnel who maintained order. But most importantly, I'd like to thank those white folks from Neshoba County and other parts of Mississippi who walked up to me and said, "Things are changing, not as fast as we want them to change, but they're changing." I'm talking about various ages and various economic backgrounds. I really believe there's hope.

RAY SUAREZ: Killen could get 20 years in prison on each charge. We'll have more on this story right after the News Summary. In Iraq today, the U.S. Military declared "Operation Spear" a success. The four-day offensive targeted insurgent bases around Qaim, near the Syrian border. At least 60 guerrillas were killed. Elsewhere in the West, a U.S. Soldier was killed in a roadside bombing today. In Baghdad, the commander of the multinational forces, Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, said money is driving much of the violence.

LT. GEN. JOHN VINES: We detain persons who were involved in that, and they're sometimes forthcoming, and they tell us exactly what they were paid and why they were doing it. And so in many cases, we find that this is-- this has no ideology-- these insurgents don't have an ideology except violence and power.

RAY SUAREZ: Gen. Vines also said a reduction in U.S. Troop numbers in Iraq is unlikely before next year at the earliest. Iraq's justice minister accused the United States today of trying to delay the interrogation of Saddam Hussein. He said, "It seems there are lots of secrets they want to hide." Still, the minister insisted the trial of Saddam will begin and end before the year is out. Several U.S. Soldiers assigned to guard the former Iraqi dictator have now spoken publicly for the first time. Spec. Sean O'Shea and Corp. Jonathan Reese of the Pennsylvania National Guard went to Iraq in 2003. On Monday, in New York, they recalled Saddam's statements on a variety of issues, including weapons of mass destruction.

SPC. SEAN O'SHEA: To me, it says he doesn't have them. We didn't find anything. We're not going to find anything. In the same sentence, he mentioned that he had no connections with Osama bin Laden; he said he thinks he's going to be president again; he's going to go back in power.

SPOKESMAN: He did?

CORPORAL JONATHAN REESE: Yes He viewed all of us as his sons, as his family. And he was like when this is all over and I'm back in power, I want you guys to come visit me. He's like, I'll show you my country.

RAY SUAREZ: Saddam is being held with 11 of his top lieutenants outside Baghdad. A remote control bomb killed an anti-Syrian politician in Lebanon today. The victim was George Hawi, the country's former Communist Party leader. The bomb detonated under his car seat as he was being driven through Beirut. A similar bombing killed another anti-Syrian journalist earlier this month. The Syrian government denounced today's attack. But in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State Rice said there is still "uncertainty" about Syrian activities in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian President Abbas held a summit today, but they disagreed about the outcome. It was their first meeting since they declared a cease-fire in February. The Palestinians said they failed to make any progress on "basic issues." But Sharon said they agreed on coordinating Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza in August. President Bush welcomed the prime minister of Vietnam to the White House today. Phan Van Khai was the highest- ranking Vietnamese leader to visit the U.S. since the war ended. Mr. Bush said they talked about Vietnam's economic progress and efforts to improve human rights. We'll have more on this story later in the program. Senate Republicans said today they'll keep on pushing for a vote on John Bolton to be U.N. Ambassador. Initially, Majority Leader Bill Frist said there was nothing else he could do to stop Democrats from blocking the end of debate on Bolton. Later, at the White House, Frist reversed himself after meeting with the president.

SEN. BILL FRIST: We have been unsuccessful to date, in large part because of the shifting goalpost of every time we either put something on the table or discuss negotiations. The president made it very clear that he expects an up-or-down vote, and in talking directly to leadership and our entire caucus I hope we can deliver that up- or-down vote, so we'll continue working in that regard.

RAY SUAREZ: Democrats have charged Bolton abused employees and tried to influence intelligence. A White House spokesman today rejected the criticism, and he refused to rule out giving Bolton a temporary appointment, one that doesn't need Senate confirmation.

A solar-sail spacecraft flew into orbit for the first time today. A Russian submarine in the Barents Sea fired Cosmos 1 into space -- on board a converted missile. There was no immediate confirmation it separated from the missile as planned. As this animation shows, the privately-funded ship then stretched out sails to catch solar light particles. The constant pressure should lead to increasing speed over the month-long mission. Cosmos is a project of the planetary society in Pasadena, California.

The man who invented the integrated circuit, Jack Kilby, died Monday in Dallas. He'd had cancer. Kilby's invention in 1958 led to microchips used in today's computers and a host of other devices. Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000. He was 81 years old.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nine points to close at 10,599. The NASDAQ rose nearly three points to close at 2091.

That's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to guilty verdicts in Mississippi; better relations with Vietnam; public broadcasting's problems; and a Richard Rodriguez essay.

FOCUS - MURDERS IN MISSISSIPPI

RAY SUAREZ: We begin in Mississippi, where justice, delayed for more than four decades, finally was served earlier today.

SPOKESPERSON: We the jury find the defendant, Edgar Ray Killen, as to count one, guilty of manslaughter.

RAY SUAREZ: Sitting in a wheelchair with an oxygen tube attached to his nose, 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen showed no emotion as a jury found him guilty of manslaughter in the slayings of three civil rights workers 41 years ago. The jury of nine whites and three blacks read the verdicts just after noon today, on the second day of deliberations. They rejected murder charges against Killen, but also turned down claims by the defense that he wasn't involved in the crimes at all. After being comforted by his wife, Killen was taken into police custody. He now faces up to 20 years in prison.

During the trial, Killen was portrayed by prosecutors as a Ku Klux Klan leader who recruited a mob to kill Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The crimes triggered outrage across the country, and energized the civil rights movement. Neshoba County District Attorney Mark Duncan spoke after the verdict.

MARK DUNCAN: For too long we've borne the burden of what was done here by a handful of people 41 years ago. Now today, like I said in court, I know the character of this town. And I know there were good people here back in 1964, but today we've shown the world the true character of the people in Neshoba County.

RAY SUAREZ: The three civil rights workers had traveled to Mississippi to investigate the torching of a black church. They were arrested for speeding, jailed briefly, and then ambushed by a gang of Klansmen late on the night of June 21, 1964. It was 44 days before their bodies were found, buried in an earthen dam. The trio had been beaten and shot to death. Their burned station wagon later was pulled from a swamp.

Edgar Ray Killen was a part-time preacher and sawmill operator at the time. He was tried in 1967 on federal charges of violating the victims' civil rights, but the all-white jury deadlocked when one juror refused to convict. Seven others were convicted, but none served more than six years.

Thirty-eight years later, Killen became the first person in the case ever brought up on state murder charges. He never took the stand during the trial, but has long claimed that he was at attending a wake at a funeral home when the victims were killed.

Today, relatives of the victims expressed their satisfaction with today's verdict, but Michael Schwerner's widow, Rita Bender, now 63, said the State of Mississippi still has a long way to go to reconcile its history.

RITA BENDER: The fact that some members of that jury could have sat through that testimony, indeed could have lived here all these years, and could not bring themselves to acknowledge these were murders, that they were committed with malice, indicates that there are still people unfortunately among you who choose to look aside, who choose not to see the truth. And that means there's a lot more yet to be done.

RAY SUAREZ: The judge is expected to set a sentencing date for Edgar Ray Killen on Thursday.

RAY SUAREZ: And we're joined once again by Jerry Mitchell, a reporter with the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. He's been following developments in this legal saga for 15 years.

Jerry Mitchell, welcome. Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of three counts of felony manslaughter, rather than murder. What's the difference?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, it has to do with intent to kill. Basically, there is a statement by one of the Klansmen who said that Killen had told him they were going to go up and tear their rear ends up, and that may be what the jurors seized on as opposed to inferring that it was murder by other evidence, which-- such as the fact that they had to get rubber gloves and other things and set him up for an alibi at the funeral home. So those are the kind of factors that led, perhaps, for the jury to conclude itwas manslaughter as opposed to murder. Plus I think it was a compromise verdict.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, let's talk a little bit about how that became a possibility. Was it always a possibility for the jurors to find on a lesser charge?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, actually, the prosecutors are the ones who put the lesser charge in front of the jury. It wasn't a defense strategy. It was a prosecution strategy, figuring that if the jury couldn't agree on murder, that at least they could be able to fall back on manslaughter, and that's what happened.

It appears that some of the jurors weren't as convinced of his guilt as others, and so they ended upon compromising on the manslaughter verdict, at least from the initial conversations with jurors that we've had.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, last night, it came to light that there had been a 6-6 poll, an even split on whether to convict.

JERRY MITCHELL: Right.

RAY SUAREZ: Is that when this prosecution offer might have taken place?

JERRY MITCHELL: It's uncertain, although I tend to think now that that split -- that 6-6 split may have been on murder-manslaughter. There may have been some split along those lines, although some of those people who eventually backed the manslaughter may have actually been on the side of preferring acquittal. But in the end, they -- I think it definitely was a compromise verdict. They compromised on manslaughter.

RAY SUAREZ: Since the verdicts were announced, we've seen a lot of reaction from people who were pulling for the prosecution, let's say. What did the defense have to say for itself when it was all over?

JERRY MITCHELL: Basically they said that they planned to appeal the case. They feel like there are grounds on the fact that the transcript testimony was used. They feel like there are a lot of things going against Mr. Killen, a tremendous amount of publicity surrounding this case, other things like that that they point to that feel like, really, went against him.

Although his lawyer, interestingly, told me that if Mr. Killen had been tried anywhere but Neshoba County, he would have probably been convicted of first degree murder. That's what he said.

RAY SUAREZ: Now in the summation, the defense attorney said that the prosecution wasn't able to put Edgar Ray Killen at the murder scene, wasn't able to put a weapon in his hand.

JERRY MITCHELL: Right.

RAY SUAREZ: Is that a fair reflection of what the jury heard?

JERRY MITCHELL: That's what the defense-- that's what the defense claimed. And I might point out it's not unusual for these kind of cases to take place where someone's not at the murder scene. I think some people get misled by that.

For example, if there's a mafia hit, I mean the person who ordered it is not going to be at the scene. They're going to have an alibi. In a case close to our hearts, Osama bin Laden, obviously, wasn't here in America when those planes flew into the World Trade Center.

So, I mean, I think the presence of someone to have taken part in a murder I don't think is actually required, and the state never claimed that he was there.

RAY SUAREZ: Now, there have been several other cases, similar to this one, looking at crimes in the 50s and 60s.

JERRY MITCHELL: That's true.

RAY SUAREZ: Are there any other defendants from the Goodman-Schwerner-Chaney killing who may, as a result of this prosecution, now face further jeopardy?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, it's an interesting question. The prosecutors say they don't know at this point; they don't anticipate any other charges because they say Mr. Killen was the only one the grand jury indicted, but we'll see.

Further evidence could develop. There are obviously seven other suspects who are living in this case, and there may be other cases as well, such as the Emmet Till case that the state and federal authorities are now look at in Mississippi, and other cases across the country.

RAY SUAREZ: Let's talk a little bit about the world outside the courtroom. If you were to describe what people outside the courtroom and why-- in the wider streets of Mississippi and in Neshoba County had to say about the verdict, how would you describe it?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, I think there's a split. I mean, some people feel like this is a great thing. It helps Neshoba County and Mississippi move beyond this dark chapter and its past.

Other people felt like this case shouldn't have been brought up at all. They feel like, you know, this happened a long time ago; it should just be forgotten about. And so I guess the only thing they were grateful for is the fact the case is over now.

RAY SUAREZ: Is there a sense that the race relations in the place have really changed, or were there times both during the trial and in the public comment on the trial itself where you heard things that may have surprised you or sounded like they were from another time?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, we definitely heard some of that from the witness stand. We had one witness, the former mayor, get up and say the Klan was a peaceful organization, and said that the Klan had really done some good. And so that was kind of stunning to hear those kind of remarks here in the 21st Century.

So-- but it's -- the good news is I think race relations have changed tremendously in Mississippi over the past four decades. Back when these three young men gave their lives so that all Americans could vote, there were very few African-Americans who could vote in this state.

Today, Mississippi has more black elected officials than any other state. So, yes, Mississippi still has a long ways to go, but it certainly has to be credited for the progress it's made.

RAY SUAREZ: Jerry Mitchell, thanks again for being with us.

JERRY MITCHELL: Thank you.

FOCUS - NEW ERA

RAY SUAREZ: Another page turned in U.S. relations with Vietnam. Spencer Michels begins our coverage.

SPENCER MICHELS: The bustle and boom is everywhere in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, some 30 years after the Vietnam war ended. The Communist state that's home to 80 million people is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. It's moving toward a market economy and toward a gradual reconciliation with the U.S. In 2000, President Clinton paid an historic visit to Vietnam near the end of his term in office, the first visit of a U.S. President since the war. Five years before, he'd restored full diplomatic relations with Vietnam. This time it was Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's turn to visit the United States. Trade issues and membership in the World Trade Organization were at the top of his agenda. Khai's first stop was in Seattle, Washington, where he toured a Boeing plant. Vietnam will buy four of the new 787 Dreamliner planes. He also met with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

PHAN VAN KHAI (translated): Our success in the future will be a tribute to you, Mr. Bill gates.

SPENCER MICHELS: Protests followed the prime minister wherever he went, outside both his meetings in Seattle. And in Washington, D.C. today, as his limousine pulled up the circular drive to the White House, the shouts of demonstrators, mainly Vietnamese Americans, from across the street were loud. They yelled "Communist go home," and protested government policies that stifle press freedom, jail opponents, and limit some religious practices. But inside the west wing, President Bush welcomed Prime Minister Khai, the first Vietnamese prime minister to have an Oval Office session since the end of the Vietnam War.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: The prime minister graciously invited me to Vietnam. I will be going in 2006. I'm looking forward to my trip, also looking forward to the APEC summit that Vietnam will be hosting.

SPENCER MICHELS: Prime Minister Khai acknowledged differences between the two nations remain, but pushed for increased economic ties.

PHAN VAN KAHI (translated): We believe that America can find in Vietnam a potential cooperation partner. We have a population of 80 million people, which means a huge market for American businesses. And these people are also very hardworking, creative, and dynamic, and they are now working very hard to achieve the goal of building Vietnam into a strong country with wealthy people and a democratic and advanced society.

SPENCER MICHELS: The president hailed a recent Vietnamese promise to expand religious freedom, and he encouraged further Vietnamese progress on human rights.

RAY SUAREZ: And Margaret Warner has more.

MARGARET WARNER: For more on today's visit and the importance of the relationship for both Vietnam and the United States, we turn to Raymond Burghardt, former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam from 2001 to 2004. He's now director of seminars at the East West Center, an independent education and research group based in Honolulu. And Nayan Chanda, director of publications at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. He's the former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, and he reported from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Welcome to you both.

Ambassador Burghardt, what is the significance of today's visit for both Vietnam and the United States?

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Well, we've had diplomatic relations for ten years. They've developed relatively slowly, picking up speed in the last couple of years. This is the first time a Vietnamese prime minister has visited Vietnam since the war.

MARGARET WARNER: You mean the U.S.?

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Yes, visited the United States since the war. And it's really a reciprocal visit, a return visit for President Clinton's trip to Vietnam in November 2000.

MARGARET WARNER: And has there been a tremendous evolution in the relationship in those ten years; if so, in what way?

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Well, we began dealing with the issues left over from the war: Accounting for MIA's, reuniting families of boat people. Then we developed strong economic relations, which have increased quite dramatically in the last few years. And now we're starting to develop broader relations. One of the things that was very significant in the last three years was developing even ties between our militaries, including three Naval... U.S. Naval ships visiting Vietnam in the last two years.

MARGARET WARNER: Nayan Chanda, what does Vietnam... first of all, what has Vietnam gotten out of this relationship in these ten years? What's the most important thing? And what more does it want from the U.S. and from the relationship?

NAYAN CHANDA: First of all, I think for the Vietnamese, it was a huge deal to finally have the recognition of the United States. They fought a long, bitter war, but it took a long time to get the diplomatic relationship established. And once that is done, they have been benefiting enormously from the trade relationship with the United States.

MARGARET WARNER: Go ahead. Give us a little more on that. You mean if it really helped Vietnam's economic development to have this trade relationship? And if so, how much... for instance, today they were talking about Vietnam wants early cession into the WTO. How important is the U.S. in that?

NAYAN CHANDA: First of all, the U.S.- Vietnam trade agreement, which was signed in 2001, has opened the U.S. market for the Vietnamese goods which was prohibitively tariffed before. So the Vietnamese are actually exporting a significant amount to the United States. The United States has emerged as the most important trading partner of the Vietnamese. So that is very important. And the Vietnamese, of course, want the U.S. help to join the WTO. And President Bush today has said that U.S. strongly supports Vietnam's entry into the WTO.

MARGARET WARNER: Ambassador, what is the geopolitical significance of this relationship for each country?

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: I think for both... both countries see the relationship as helpful in maintaining a balance in Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese told me... they told us when I was there that while the relationship with China had developed very well, they saw China's increased influence in Asia as something that needed to be kept in balance. And they saw the U.S. as critical for that. And for the U.S., I mean, we're not trying to contain China. That would be a futile cause, but we do see the need for balance. I mean, China's influence is increasing, and it's good to have friends in Southeast Asia who are large countries, growing countries, and to help to maintain that kind of security there.

MARGARET WARNER: Nayan Chanda, do you see it that way, that for both countries this represents a way of keeping some balance, power balance in Asia?

NAYAN CHANDA: Indeed, it is, indeed. Because if you look at the joint statement put out by the White House and the Vietnamese prime minister today, the significant thread there is that Vietnam and the United States want to have a partnership in maintaining peace and security and prosperity in Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific. And this Asia Pacific reference I think is very significant because it basically means China-- that the United States has an interest in having a good relationship with Vietnam as a counterbalance to China, not necessarily militarily, but politically.

MARGARET WARNER: And how do think, Mr. Chanda, that this visit, for instance, is regarded in Beijing?

NAYAN CHANDA: I think the Viet... Chinese reaction publicly would be very muted, but the Chinese would be watching very carefully, because they have obviously been reading reports about the U.S. Naval ship visits to Vietnam, and the fact that now this trip, the Vietnamese and the U.S. have agreed to establish a military training program, as well as the intelligence sharing in fighting the terrorist threat. These cooperations are viewed with some suspicion in Beijing.

MARGARET WARNER: Mr. Ambassador, Amnesty International and many other human rights groups, Human Rights Watch, have been... are very critical of Vietnam and the state of human rights there. What is the state of political freedom in Vietnam?

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Well, Vietnam is one of the world's last five Leninist countries, one of the last five countries ruled by a Communist Party as a one-party state. It's a country where there's been progress in the last ten or 15 years. People have more control of their lives now than they did before. The private sector is bigger. Not everybody works for the government. Thegovernment doesn't have that kind of... that kind of leverage over people's lives that it had ten or fifteen years ago. But still, by standards of a western democracy, or even an Asian democracy, Vietnam is a country where if you advocate a multiparty system, you'll end up in jail. It's a country where people are generally free to worship as they want, but churches are organizations that the state keeps pretty tight control over.

MARGARET WARNER: So it's been compared, for instance, to China in the degree of political freedom that it's still pretty much one-party rule. Would you agree with that?

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Vietnam... the political system in Vietnam is actually very similar to China. Like China, it's a country where the political bureau of the communist party maintains the final word on all issues.

MARGARET WARNER: And Mr. Chanda, how about the economic system? How open is it? I mean, how many people are free to be entrepreneurs and do what they want to do, versus... and how much of it is still state- controlled?

NAYAN CHANDA: Well, the state control has diminished considerably, beginning with agriculture, which was privatized. Peasants now own their land and do whatever they want to do with that land.

In terms of industry, the state sector has been progressively diminished, and in fact Vietnam today employs only 10 percent of its labor force in the state sector, so 90 percent is employed by the private sector. And the private sector is increasingly given more freedom to actually set up businesses as well as go into joint venture with foreign investors.

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Margaret, can I answer that?

MARGARET WARNER: Please do, yes.

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: I think one of the key realizations of the Vietnamese leadership in the last few years was that they needed to develop the private sector. They needed to welcome foreign investment, foreign companies setting up factories and operations there, in order to employ their people. They had a big baby boom in the years after the Vietnam War. They need to... they have lots of people leaving the countryside, going to the cities. So they need to create one and a half to two million new jobs a year, and the state sector is not going to do it.

MARGARET WARNER: All right, Mr. Ambassador, Nayan Chanda, thank you, both.

RAYMOND BURGHARDT: Thank you, Margaret.

NAYAN CHANDA: Thank you.

RAY SUAREZ: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight, public broadcasting's fuzzy picture, and a Richard Rodriguez essay.

FOCUS -UNDER PRESSURE

RAY SUAREZ: Public broadcasting on the hot seat. Jeffrey Brown has our media unit report. (Applause)

SPOKESMAN: Clifford, the big red dog.

JEFFREY BROWN: Clifford the big red dog was on Capitol Hill today. He joined other PBS cartoon characters and members of congress at a rally in support of funding for public TV and radio. Meanwhile, in another part of Washington, the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, known as CPB, was meeting, amid a growing controversy over political bias and influence in public broadcasting.

SPOKESMAN: CPB board of directors....

JEFFREY BROWN: At the center of the storm, is Ken Tomlinson, a former executive at Reader's Digest first appointed to the board of CPB by President Clinton and then made its chairman by President Bush in 2003. In several instances since his appointment, Tomlinson has raised questions about a perceived liberal bias at PBS, here on the PBS program, Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered.

KENNETH TOMLINSON: I think we had a problem at PBS headquarters. I think there's been an essential tone deafness at PBS headquarters that I think will be dealt with, with new leadership there.

JEFFREY BROWN: Tomlinson has criticized National Public Radio for an alleged anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the Middle East, and he took particular issue with the PBS program, Now with Bill Moyers. Soon after becoming CPB chair, he wrote to Pat Mitchell, the president of PBS, that "'Now' does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting." Tomlinson also hired a consultant to monitor the program's content and guest selection, a move being investigated by CPB'S inspector general at the behest of congressional Democrats. Bill Moyers left Now last year, but the program continues.

KENNETH TOMLINSON: What is controversial about seeking balance in public broadcasting? I'm not trying to push liberals out of public broadcasting. Liberal-oriented programs are important for support of public broadcasting.

There will be no retributions against journalists. But why not have discourse?

You and I both know that public television is never going to turn right-wing. What we're simply seeking here is balance.

JEFFREY BROWN: Tucker Carlson recently left PBS after one year for MSNBC, but his was one of two new conservative-leaning programs to appear on PBS.

Tomlinson also championed-- and CPB funded-- a new weekly program on PBS called the Journal Editorial Report, featuring members of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private nonprofit agency created and funded by Congress. This year it distributed $387 million in federal dollars to PBS, NPR, hundreds of public radio and TV stations around the nation, and some individual programs.

In recent months, Tomlinson's words and deeds have stirred up strong responses. Bill Moyers spoke in Washington.

BILL MOYERS: It's not a duel between Kenneth Tomlinson and Bill Moyers. It's a duel between government and journalist. If he is going to remain as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, he has got to keep his cotton-picking hands off the programming.

JEFFREY BROWN: For her part, PBS president Pat Mitchell has cited opinion polls commissioned by CPB itself that show a great majority of respondents find public broadcasting to be balanced.

In May, Mitchell spoke at the National Press Club in Washington.

PAT MITCHELL: Our responsibility is to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. We cannot afford, quite literally, to engage in destructive allegations based on personal perceptions clearly not shared by the growing number of listeners to NPR and the growing number of viewers of PBS.

JEFFREY BROWN: In April, CPB installed, for the first time, two ombudsmen, Ken Bode and William Schultz, to monitor programming on PBS and NPR.

It was later revealed that the job description for the ombudsmen had been drafted with the aid of Mary Catherine Andrews, then an adviser at the White House, while she was in transition to a post at CPB.

Also in April, CPB announced that its president and CEO, Kathleen Cox, was stepping down after just ten months.

When published reports suggested that Patricia Harrison, a former Republican National Committee co-chair, was Ken Tomlinson's leading candidate to replace Cox, three Democratic senators-- Byron Dorgan, Frank Lautenberg, and Hilary Clinton-- wrote to Tomlinson asking him to delay a vote on the appointment, a call echoed by various interest groups.

In the meantime, Congress is also looking at PBS funding. Last week, a House Committee voted to cut annual appropriations for public broadcasting by 25 percent, or $100 million.

ANNOUNCER: They want to completely eliminate federal funding that supports educational and commercial-free children programs.

JEFFREY BROWN: That's led many PBS stations to run ads asking viewers to oppose the cuts. A vote by the full House is expected later this week. The Senate is still to take up the matter.

JEFFREY BROWN: Late today, the board meeting of the CPB ended without choosing a new president. And for the record, the NewsHour receives almost half its funding from PBS, which in turn receives some of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

We explore some of these issues now with Bill Reed, president of KCPT, a public television station in Kansas City, and George Neumayr, executive editor of the American Spectator Magazine.

Welcome to both of you.

Mr. Neumayr, starting with I, you've been writing on some of these issues. Do you see a liberal bias in public broadcasting?

GEORGE NEUMAYR: I do. I see a pervasive bias. PBS looks like a liberal monopoly to me, and Bill Moyers is Exhibit A of that very strident left-wing bias. You can see it in also that recently-canceled show Postcards from Buster, which is a cartoon depicting a rabbit that goes to Vermont to stay with a lesbian couple in order to learn about politically correct values.

So I think the problem of bias is quite deep, and I applaud Ken Tomlinson for making an attempt to correct it.

JEFFREY BROWN: When you refer to it as a "liberal monopoly" you mean you see it as a kind of pervasive matter?

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Well, I think it's been that case, the case for decades. You know, liberals are dominated PBS from the time it was started in 1967.

I mean, it was created by Bill Moyers, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and it's really just a liberal Great Society project, and the slant and the tilt of the programming for decades has reflected that.

JEFFREY BROWN: And when you speak about a bias, do you mean a particular agenda being pushed, or more of a general attitude?

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Both. You see, with Bill Moyers, you see-- you know, he uses his show as a platform from which to attack conservatives and Republicans. He's been using it to harangue George Bush over the war, but also, yes, a tone, a liberal tone can be seen throughout the programming on PBS.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Reed, do you see a liberal bias?

BILL REED: I think this is really nonsense. You know, the CPB Commission, two nationwide surveys about this bias issue-- by separate firms, incidentally-- and they both came out with a majority of the American people saying they did not think there was liberal bias in PBS programs.

As a matter of fact, the last survey had 79 percent of the respondents said there was not liberal bias in public broadcasting.

I really find it interesting that repeatedly, we raise Bill Moyers Now as the reason that people are attacking us for being too liberal. You know, for over 30 years, William F. Buckley was on public television, and I carried him proudly in the stations that I've managed in my career. He's a fine journalist, and so is Bill Moyers. But I don't recall hearing any charges of bias when we had William F. Buckley, who was the conservative spokesman in this nation during that time. I just find these charges interesting, especially, I understand that Mr. Tomlinson's poll that he had commissioned secretly, without the board's knowledge, came back stating that there was not bias. But, yet, these charges continue to be raised.

JEFFREY BROWN: So Mr. Reed, what do you believe is causing Mr. Tomlinson to raise these questions?

BILL REED: You know, I don't know. I don't know. I can only speculate, but, you know, he... the Public Broadcasting Act stipulates that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, one of its primary functions is to provide a heat shield to keep politics from meddling in public broadcasting.

And Mr. Tomlinson has gone beyond anything that I've ever seen in the past. He's not only not providing the heat shield; he's turning up the heat. And this is really a disturbing situation. He's politicizing public broadcasting. And I'll tell you why it's so disturbing--

GEORGE NEUMAYR: I would disagree.

JEFFREY BROWN: Let him finish. And then I'll come --

BILL REED: Can I finish, please? Here in Kansas City, Kansas City Public Television would not be here without the support of citizens from all walks of life and all political parties, and likewise on the national level. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting could not have increased its funding over the years without bipartisan support in Congress.

And by -- what Tomlinson is doing at CPB is really pitting one political party against another, and that should not be anywhere near public broadcasting.

JEFFREY BROWN: Go ahead, Mr. Neumayr.

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Mr. Tomlinson has not politicized PBS. Bill Moyers politicized PBS. The liberals have been politicizing PBS from 1967. This is a ridiculous smear against Ken Tomlinson for simply doing his job.

It is his job; it is his duty as the chairman for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to ensure philosophical balance in programming that is financed by all Americans. This programming is not simply-- it's not supposed to be the personal playhouse of the left wing in this country. It's not supposed to simply be a perk for coastal elites.

And Mr. Tomlinson is reflecting the views and values of the majority who voted George Bush into office, and I think it's entirely reasonable for him to correct long-standing liberal prejudices and biases-- biases that have gone unchecked and unchallenged for way too long.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Reed, doesn't Mr. Tomlinson have the right in his role to speak out, if he sees this?

BILL REED: Sure, but here he's speak out after all the polls done by his own organization show overwhelmingly that the American public does not think there's bias in public television programming. And I have to ask, you know during all those years that William F. Buckley was on the air, and as a matter of fact, Pat Buchanan is on my air every week, and so is Tony Blakely from the Washington Times every week stating their views, does that make us now suddenly a conservative-oriented public broadcasting? This is absurd to single out one program--

GEORGE NEUMAYR: That's tokenism.

BILL REED: -- this has got this kind of influence -

GEORGE NEUMAYR: That's tokenism, and you'd be lucky to have caught Bill Buckley at midnight on most stations across this country. Just to have--

BILL REED: That is not true.

GEORGE NEUMAYR: To have one conservative on a liberally-dominated network is not balanced.

BILL REED: The only thing you can talk about liberally dominated is Bill Moyers. I mean--

GEORGE NEUMAYR: I gave you an example of Postcards from Buster, which shows how deep the bias is at PBS.

BILL REED: Postcards from Buster, there's one issue was with the lesbian parents in one program out of all the programs. And, you know, I'm not sure that that's a liberal versus conservative issue anyway.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Reed you see-- the-- the federal funding question is what you've raised, Mr. Neumayr-- does the federal funding aspect of this provide or call for some special responsibility for all of us who are at PBS, Mr. Reed?

BILL REED: Sure. It does. And as I've stated earlier, the public does not feel there's any bias. It doesn't mean that you have to have total balance within every program.

And incidentally, Bill Moyers on Now had many of the leading Republicans on his show on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, I saw one of the shows when Cal Thomas was on it, and at the end of the show when Bill Moyers thanked him for being on there, Cal Thomas said to Bill Moyers, "Keep up the great work, Bill. You're the best."

And so, you know, what we're talking about is do we have to have internal balance in every show, or should we have internal balance over the schedule? And that's what we shoot for here at KCPT. We want balance over the schedule. We want all the voices on public broadcasting.

JEFFREY BROWN: This balance over the schedule is part of what Pat Mitchell, the PBS president, was talking about as well.

GEORGE NEUMAYR: I dispute that-- you know, one semi-conservative, or very tame and token conservative show does not make-- does not constitute balance.

JEFFREY BROWN: You're referring to the Wall Street journal?

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Right, I mean, that's a very-- I mean if that's PBS' conservative representative, it's a quite tame one. And, I mean, for PBS to say it's balanced because it's running that show is like the New York Times saying that it's balanced because it's running David Brooks.

JEFFREY BROWN: Broader question--

BILL REED: I don't think-- go ahead.

JEFFREY BROWN: Sorry, I was going to ask the broader question, because some people have raised whether there is a role for public broadcasting at all today.

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Well, I think the question should be raised. Why are the American people financing with their tax dollars programming that offends them? Why are they picking up the tab for Bill Moyers? I've never heard a good answer to that question.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Reed.

BILL REED: You know, Bill Moyers is-- Bill Moyers is not even on the air anymore, and you keep saying, you know, "pick up the tab for this liberal broadcasting network," when study after study has shown otherwise, and you can't put anything forward except your opinion about--

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Well, study after study shows the American people aren't watching PBS.

BILL REED: No, that's not true. At any given night, all the 500 channels you talk about on cable if you want to measure any one of those channels against public broadcasting, you'll see their audiences are minuscule.

But let me answer the question about why we need public broadcasting. I think if you ask parents of young children they'd give you a lot of reasons. We still have the best non-commercial, nonviolent, educational children's programming anywhere on television.

And secondly, in our prime-time schedules and our public affairs-- including Now-- Frontline may be the best documentary series on television ever, American Experience, this program, the NewsHour, Nature, Nova, all these programs, you cannot find them anywhere else on the commercial dial. But let me tell you one other thing that makes us distinctive from all the other program services.

They do not have a presence in Kansas City. We are a local community asset. We provide programs and services to the community -- for example, we serve 200,000 K-12 students in Kansas and Missouri. We have a collaborative effort with nine area colleges and universities that result in 50,000 people getting distance education every year.

We're currently doing a demonstration with data-casting with our digital transmitter, with homeland security. And you don't have enough time on this program for me to tell you all the other local programs and services we have here. Those are big reasons why this country still needs public broadcasting.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Neumayr, let me ask you a brief question about the funding question. As we said, Congress is now looking at this, at the funding issue. Do you see the debate we're having here about potential bias playing into the funding question?

GEORGE NEUMAYR: Sure. I think the-- all the liberals, PBS-- Pat Mitchell and company-- who have been digging a hole for Mr. Tomlinson are going to fall into that hole because they have renewed a debate about PBS.

They have-- the boomerang they threw at Tomlinson is coming back at them because now people are wondering why is it that we're spending millions of dollars so that liberal advocates, like Bill Moyers, can have platforms from which to attack a president who is popular.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Reed, do you worry that this funding question will get tied up with the bias issue?

BILL REED: Oh, Bill Moyers-- you know, Bill Moyers retired. He keeps bringing up Bill Moyers. And I hope Bill Moyers comes back. I'd love to have him back on our air.

The funding issue is a very serious one. I think if these cuts hold up, it could be the end of public broadcasting, both radio and television. And I'll tell you why: You know, here in Kansas City, a 25 percent cut in our community service grant-- we're a $7 million operation and our community service grant is $900,000 next year-- if we had that cut out of the station here, it would really cut gut this operation, but we could still be able to survive.

But when you get out into the rural parts of the country where the stations have budgets of 1 million, 1.5 million dollars, and the portion of their operating budget is 30 or 40 percent is coming from CPB, if you cut that money, those stations are going to start to go off the air.

And what you have is a chain reaction happening in at least in public television, where those stations in the aggregate send a lot of money back to PBS to fund national programming.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right. Mr. Reed -

BILL REED: Certainly. Yeah -

JEFFREY BROWN: I'm sorry, we have got to stop it there. We will stay tuned. And thank you, Bill Reed, and George Neumayr, thank you both very much.

ESSAY - ACCIDENTAL CITY

RAY SUAREZ: Finally to night, essayist Richard Rodriguez looks at the intersection of blacks and Hispanics in Los Angeles.

ACTOR: It's the sense of touch. In a real city, you walk, you know, you brush past people; people bump into you. In LA, nobody touches you.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: One movie this summer has gone way beyond intergalactic travel. In the recently released "Crash," the polyglot city of Los Angeles is depicted by some a state of auto thrombosis, a city of smash and slur and off- the-chart blood pressure.

ACTOR: Walk, don't walk up on me!

ACTOR: I know this man.

ACTOR: Get back!

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: Los Angeles was once in such a hurry it couldn't stop long enough to give its full name. Post-war LA was never a city in a conventional sense. It was defined more by its extremities than by the center. LA had a vast and inclusive idea of itself, an idea orbited by speeding automobiles. And then, LA became America's premiere global city, the deplorable idea, the prophetic idea, with freeway exits leading to separate languages. It worked as long as traffic kept moving. But the city in a hurry is now at a crawl.

Even as "Crash" was packing the multiplex, LA elected its first Hispanic mayor in over a century. Antonio Villaraigosa won a decisive victory by coursing a coalition among the many racial and ethnic groups and freeway exits in America's most complicated city.

Four years ago, Villaraigosa's campaign derailed when a majority of African-American voters endorsed the white candidate. Many in LA saw that black vote as a vote against the Hispanic descendants, a vote that exposed a rivalry that had passed largely unremarked in public celebrations of multicultural California.

Compton, South Central, Watts, in Los Angeles, as elsewhere in the United States, the African-American neighborhoods are becoming Spanish-speaking.

It has not helped black-Hispanic relations that the U.S. Census Bureau has persistently described the numerical ascendancy of Hispanics as a diminishment of African-Americans.

For years the bureau predicted that Hispanics were destined to replace-- that is the word the census bureau used-- Hispanics were destined to replace African-Americans as the countries largest minority, this despite the fact that the two groups are not comparable. African-Americans constitute a racial group. Hispanics constitute a cultural or an ethnic group.

It did not help black and Hispanic relations when Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, someone who should and does know about American social politics, said that Mexican immigrants are willing to do the work that not even blacks want to do.

Villaraigosa did not cast himself as the Hispanic candidate in Los Angeles. He won by insisting that he would be mayor of the entire city. Villaraigosa did not win the Asian vote. He won the African-American vote.

In the movie "Crash," the only scene of erotic union is between two police officers, an African-American and a Latino. The fragmented city even intrudes upon their bedroom. Cultural stereotype is foreplay.

ACTOR: You want a lesson? I'll give you a lesson. How about a geography lesson? My father's Puerto Rican. My mother's from El Salvador. Neither one of those is Mexico.

ACTOR: Well, then, I guess the big mystery is, who gathered all those remarkably different cultures together and taught them all how to park their cars on their lawns?

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: LA can possibly represent either a new global civilization with races and cultures meeting, or, as in "Crash," a defeated ideal. As a Californian, I refuse to give up my optimism about Los Angeles. LA is connected by blood and by memory and phone cards and Western Union and drugs and saints in the shape of eyes, to every city and history of the world. If you want to know what it is like to be alive in 2005, what better place to be than LA? I'm Richard Rodriguez.

RECAP

RAY SUAREZ: Again, the major developments of this day: A Mississippi jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen in the deaths of three civil rights workers in 1964. And the prime minister of Vietnam visited the White House for the first time since the war ended 30 years ago. And late today, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois apologized for comparing interrogators at the Guatanamo Bay prison camp to Nazis. We'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Ray Suarez. Thanks for being with us. Good night.