Top GOP Donor Favored As Next CPB Head

"A leading Republican donor who once suggested that public broadcasting journalists should be penalized for biased programs is the top candidate to succeed the controversial chairman at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting," the Washington Post reports. Bush-appointee Cheryl F. Halpern has sat on the CPB board for three years and is slated to replace Ken Tomlinson, a close ally, as the agency's head. Besides being a top Republican financial supporter, Halpern has served - with Tomlinson - on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees US international broadcasting services like Voice of America and Al-Hurra. Halpern sits on the executive board of the right-leaning think tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and is a board member of the International Republican Institute.