Kenneth Tomlinson, give yourself a pat on the back: if the words "balance and fairness" mean the same thing at PBS as they do at Fox, then you just scored yourself a victory. According to the Washington Post, PBS has announced new "editorial standards" that will ensure "balance and fairness" in its programming (example: offering "additional transparency" re: how journalistic conclusions are arrived at). It's also getting its first ombudsman (or woman, or bot, as the case may be). NB there are two ombuds-ervatives at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting plus an ombuds-Dvorkin at NPR. As our ombuds-brother at FishbowlDC points out, "that's totally not a recipe for trouble, right?"

Things that are ostensibly a coincidence: CPB chair Ken Tomlinson criticizes PBS for excessive liberalism/woefully underexpressed conservatism; last week, public broadcasting funding is slashed by 25 percent overall. Less of a coincidence:

Yet the new standards could still prove to be a source of contention. The CPB must review and accept them before it will release $23 million in funds for PBS's National Program Service (NPS), which includes online content and the shows "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," "Nova" and "American Experience." If CPB rejects the guidelines, NPS funding that is supposed to begin in October would be jeopardized.

This isn't the funding that was cut, by the way; PBS is lobbying to get that back. Yep, "ethical standards" are exactly what this situation calls for.

p.s. What does the "Y" in "Kenneth Y. Tomlinson" stand for? And why is "Yorick" the only name springing to mind? I'm stretching to find some sort of deep literary relevance, but all I can come up with are tee-hee scenarios involving this line: "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft." Ken Tomlinson erotic fan fiction, aaaaaall riiiiiight.