Mitchell's remarks at the National Press Club follow the disclosure that Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, hired a consultant to keep track of guests' political views on a program hosted by Moyers, who was White House press secretary during the Johnson administration.

"The facts do not support the case he makes" for political bias, Mitchell said of Tomlinson. Surveys show that the overwhelming majority of the public does not perceive bias in public broadcasting, she said.

The CPB gets appropriations from Congress for public broadcasting and is supposed to shield PBS from political influence. About 15 percent of PBS' budget is federal money.

Mitchell said PBS presents political views as diverse as those of Moyers and Paul Gigot, an editor of The Wall Street Journal editorial page. Tomlinson was a major advocate of the show hosted by Gigot.

Tomlinson has said he is interested in politically balanced broadcasting.

While defending PBS against what she regards as unfounded attacks that it is politically partial, Mitchell said she was not questioning Tomlinson's motives.

Shortly after becoming CPB chairman, Tomlinson sent Mitchell a letter complaining that Moyers' work "does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting."

At the press club, Mitchell said Moyers' reporting on campaign fundraising during the Clinton administration drew strong complaints from Democrats.

"Our criticism comes rather equally," Mitchell said.

© 2005 The Associated Press

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