White House reappoints Tomlinson to overseas broadcast post

President Bush yesterday reappointed former CPB Chair Kenneth Tomlinson to his other federal post, chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, overseer of Voice of America and other overseas radio and TV services, the AP reported. The State Department’s inspector general criticized Tomlinson on several matters in August but did not seek a criminal investigation; Tomlinson’s defenders downplayed the accusations. He quit the CPB job after a report by CPB’s inspector general. Just last month the BBG named a new VOA director, Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal veteran Danforth Austin, and a new director of VOA-TV, Russell Hodge, head of the Maryland production company 3 Roads Communications. Austin replaces Wayne Jackson, who was roundly criticized by VOA’s employee union.