Obituary: Kenneth Tomlinson, 69, Controversial Public Broadcasting Leader

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, a conservative journalist who served two tumultuous years as chairman of the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting, died May 1 of a melanoma, The New York Times writes. He was 69.

A former editor of Reader’s Digest and director of Voice of America, Mr. Tomlinson served from 2000 to 2005 on the board of the corporation, which makes grant for public television and radio programming. As chairman from 2003 to 2005 he worked to eliminate what he said was a liberal tilt in public broadcasting, particularly targeting PBS fixture Bill Moyers and introducing shows featuring conservative voices.

Mr. Tomlinson resigned from the board after the corporation’s inspector general questioned his authority to order a $10,000 study of alleged political bias in Mr. Moyers’ show and to hire lobbyists without the board’s knowledge.