PBS is returning $3.5 million to former Enron trader John Arnold, in response to stories by investigative journalist David Sirota about a likely conflict of interest. Arnold was underwriting a series on pension reform, and Sirota warned that PBS was abandoning its impartiality because of Arnold’s strong views.

Categories Pensions

54 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

juhlieann says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:41 pm

YES! I read Mr. Sirota’s article. Pretty disgusting, PBS. Good work helping to expose this. Thank you

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Janna says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:43 pm

Wow- this is really wonderful. It is nice to see that shining a light on PBS breaking their own rules actually means something.

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Thinking Out Loud says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:43 pm

That’s a good start for PBS. Now if they would just air “Citizen Koch” I’d really be happy. Maybe David Sirota could follow the money linked to this story as well.

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Sahila says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:43 pm

so when will PBS give back the money it accepted from Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Waltons etc? #edreform #MediaControl

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- cary444 (@cary444) says:
  
  February 14, 2014 at 10:26 pm
  
  Exactly! PBS and NPR peas in the same pod!
  
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Tim Farley says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:44 pm

When will PBS give back the millions of dollars to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

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- Michael Fiorillo says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 10:21 am
  
  Yes, and in particular have a word with so-called education reform’s chief shill on the network, Charlie Rose.
  
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  - Dee Dee says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 11:32 am
    
    Charlie Rose couldn’t do a critical investigative interview to save his life. He has an endless supply of super wealthy people on his show and kisses their rear ends.
  - Michael Brocoum says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 1:10 pm
    
    Most sickening was when he had Rhee on. Questioned her about her firing of principal on camera and totally let her off the hook with her lying explanation. She claimed reporters merely followed her in her rounds. Reporters later stated she asked if they wanted to see her firing a principal.
Sahila says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:45 pm

and, if PBS can give back money accepted from “sponsors”, surely Randi Weingarten and the other national union leaders can give back the money they accepted from Bill Gates et al? C’mon Randi – PBS has shown you how its done — it’s not that hard…. time to show some leadership and integrity….

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- Cosmic Tinker says:
  
  February 14, 2014 at 10:26 pm
  
  “surely Randi Weingarten and the other national union leaders can give back the money they accepted from Bill Gates et al”
  
  Amen to that!
  
  Reply
Howard Wright says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:46 pm

Awesome great news! David Sirota for Prez! Of something!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:

> a:hover { color: red; } a { text-decoration: none; color: #0088cc; } a.primaryactionlink:link, a.primaryactionlink:visited { background-color: #2585B2; color: #fff; } a.primaryactionlink:hover, a.primaryactionlink:active { background-color: #11729E !important; color: #fff !important; } /* @media only screen and (max-device-width: 480px) { .post { min-width: 700px !important; } } */ WordPress.com dianeravitch posted: “PBS is returning $3.5 million to former Enron trader John Arnold, in response to stories by investigative journalist David Sirota about a likely conflict of interest. Arnold was underwriting a series on pension reform, and Sirota warned that PBS was aband”

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- chemtchr says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 2:23 am
  
  Howard, I find your 4G LTE DROID’s summary of Diane’s post oddly moving.
  
  Reply
Tracy says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:48 pm

Wow! Maybe there is hope yet.

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royfmc says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:52 pm

Reblogged this on McBlog.

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Bob Gilvey says:

February 14, 2014 at 9:58 pm

Had this not happened, the CRED of PBS would have been Cucka.

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- Teacher Librarian says:
  
  June 7, 2014 at 1:15 am
  
  But what about when they aren’t caught? They don’t seem to have internal ethical checks.
  
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tutucker says:

February 14, 2014 at 10:04 pm

But the content won’t change, right? This is still going to run as is?

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Amber says:

February 14, 2014 at 10:15 pm

Does not say they won’t “air” the segment, just returning money.

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Cosmic Tinker says:

February 14, 2014 at 10:24 pm

Gotta love David Sirota!!

Hope it becomes a trend and PBS sends back the money from Koch etc.

Diane, I noticed that the Herb Alpert Foundation is a consistent supporter of Moyers and Company, so I’m wondering if they might be a resource that supporters of public education can tap, such as to create high quality PSAs. That foundation might be more amenable than others, since corporate education “reform” narrows the curriculum and pushes out the arts. NPE may want to consider contacting them here: http://www.herbalpertfoundation.org

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- Charlotte Vrooman says:
  
  February 14, 2014 at 11:56 pm
  
  Also Mutual of Omaha, Moyers’ only corporate sponsor,
  
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- chemtchr says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 7:50 am
  
  Wait, Cosmic Tinker. Can we ask PBS to allow our good foundations to influence political content with their gifts, while we demand that the evil plutocrat foundations stop controlling them? Remember, the hedge funders have a huge financial advantage over the actual creative sector.
  
  If the Herb Alpert Foundation funded programming highlighting the importance of art and music educators in real students’ lives, though, that would counter the corporate narrative.
  
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2old2teach says:

February 14, 2014 at 10:24 pm

I am reposting a comment I made from an earlier post: “I have not seen any of the series, but I would venture to guess that they are not heavy on arguments from the pensioners side. Illinois is currently trying to diminish public pensions. They have plenty of money to support crony capitalism but have been short on meeting their pension obligations for decades. Workers have always paid for their share of the pension. What gives the government the right to steal the rest of our deferred income? There are plenty of people who can suggest ways to meet the pension obligation without stealing it from pensioners.”

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- Chi-Town Res says:
  
  February 14, 2014 at 10:31 pm
  
  Illinois has been remiss in paying their share. It sounds like the state wants to renig so they never have to follow through and do so, though I don’t know if that’s possible ex post facto.
  
  Reply
BSR says:

February 14, 2014 at 10:55 pm

David Sirota is a gem. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his lovely wife when she was running for school board in Denver. What I really miss is the three-hour radio show David hosted every morning on a local left-leaning AM station there. I called in regularly and really enjoyed David’s perspective and integrity. It’s good to see he’s continuing to pursue his journalistic instincts. Keep up the good fight, David!

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artseagal says:

February 14, 2014 at 10:57 pm

What a delightful Valentine’s Day present to Democracy. Perhaps there is hope yet!

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joe prichard says:

February 15, 2014 at 12:32 am

I had a wonderful day in st. Louis with the Beacon…who have recently started to be bullied by public radio. They barred me from posting, because I have an issue with who “person” is in their 990 tax return…out of 4,400,000 dollars, 3,600,000 came from person….no one knows, I suspect Danforth…I was joking about billionaire Sinquefield, who, like many right wingers has problems with common core….how he needs to keep a wary eye on the Danforths….I do not know if it is the same family, but somebody from Oklahoma markets the “Danforth assessment test..designed to prepare students for common core tests……I love the reason they gave me….your numerous postings are frequently completely off-topic……they probably have a point, and I should probably feel ashamed.

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Robert Rendo says:

February 15, 2014 at 1:00 am

I am delighted in this reporting and its results!

But I am not completely satisfied either.

I STILL want to see that agreement between PBS (Pitiful Bastard Sychophants) and the Arnolds.

I don’t think we should be done with PBS yet, and will they yank the stupid series or at least pose ALL sides of the “pension” story?

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George Schmidt says:

February 15, 2014 at 6:13 am

No cheers here for PBS or NPR (National Propaganda Radio) for getting caught green handed. Many of us here in Chicago stopped making those annual “pledge” thingies to local “public radio” when most of its stories, evaluated over time, were shown to be plutocratic propaganda. Also, their reporters are barred by their own internal laws from ever quoting me.

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- chemtchr says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 7:52 am
  
  One might say the’ve fallen flat on their face, George. As in Samuel 17:48-49
  
  48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
  
  49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
  
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schoolgal says:

February 15, 2014 at 8:14 am

What a bowl of crap!!! They also take money from Gates and whenever they can highlight charter schools or using Kahn Academy to teach kids so that a teacher can have a larger class, no one says a thing!!!

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Robert Rendo says:

February 15, 2014 at 8:32 am

I’m not at all in defense of PBS, but I have to say that I love Bill Moyers and everything he stands for. I hope he gets to keep his show. His former co-hort David Brancaccio seems to have sold out by reporting for NPR business segment, and I am less than impressed with his coverage there, as opposed to when he was with Bill.

Bill Moyers is an American institution and treasure. I am wondering if one can donate to specific shows, because it it’s the case, I am happy to give something to the Moyers report. The interview recently given between Bill and Robert Reich was riveting. Everyone should watch it because it speaks to ALL of us here on this blog even though it’s not primarily about public education. It is so blaringly easy to connect the dots in the interview.

So much of the rest of PBS has turned to high gloss, intellectual sounding vomit: vomit dressed up by writers who have a great vocabulary, the kind of vomit that is so acidic that you can only force feed it – as when they make fois gras – to Bill Gates and wife and not see any adverse reaction from either adult. In fact, they’ll ask for more.

I still want to see the agreement between PBS and the Arnolds.

FOIL to the rescue? . . . . .

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Keith says:

February 15, 2014 at 10:39 am

Good for PBS! NYSUT should return Gates money if we are against common core!

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Michael Brocoum says:

February 15, 2014 at 11:10 am

Which brings me back to a point I’ve stated before. What is happening in education is just a symptom of the real problem in our society. It is the massive concentration of income and especially wealth that results in people like Gates impacting education nationally and John Arnold corrupting PBS. Fortunately there seems to be a groundswell developing against so much income inequality.

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- Robert Rendo says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 2:49 pm
  
  Yes, Michael.
  
  What is going on in education reform is but part of a much larger picture to dramtically shift wealth and power in a very inequitable direction and landing point . . . . .
  
  Obama and his wife are decrepit, as are those surrounding him in education reform . . . . . .
  
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  - Michael Brocoum says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 8:16 pm
    
    Agree, and Obama’s duplicity goes beyond “all politicians lie”. He courted teachers for his 2008 campaign. Soon after winning I kept on seeing ads in the online NYTimes “KeepGreatTeachers.org.” which was about eliminating LIFO seniority rights. Turns out the “organization” was just a PR creation by SKDKnickerbocker, a PR firm for Democrats run by Anita Dunne, Obama’s communication director for his 2008 campaign and married to Robert Bauer, Obama’s Chief White House counsel and personal legal assistant. Then of course there is “support” for transparency in government, except for the NSA, and also something called the Trans Pacific Partnership, a huge trade deal discussed in secret but brought to light by Bill Moyers that would’ve given corporations the right to overturn government regulations. One particularly odious (alleged) provision would allow drug companies to patent drugs for 20 years instead of about 7. Obama was trying to get “fast-track” authority from congress without lawmakers aware of the contents. As details were leaked out by Moyers and others a huge public outcry developed so it seems it is dead for the moment. Obama is in my opinion simply loathsome.
  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 8:49 pm
    
    Yes, Michael, Obama is depraved.
  - Michael Fiorillo says:
    
    February 17, 2014 at 11:21 am
    
    SDK Knickerbocker is also the workplace of Randi Weingarten’s former partner, Hillary Rosen, and does work for many so-called reform organizations.
Dee Dee says:

February 15, 2014 at 11:34 am

Sirota, my favorite parts of the article are all of the Sesame Street characters. I love Ernie and Bert in the bath tub filled with dollar bills. It was all so funny-The Count pointing to 3,500,000. Keep up the good work!!!!

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Linda says:

February 15, 2014 at 11:40 am

STANDARDIZED Lies, Money & Civil Rights: How Testing Is Ruining Public Education

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Zulma, retired NYC math teacher says:

February 15, 2014 at 11:50 am

Should we trust PBS ever again? If they took money from the Arnolds knowing that they had an agenda to mislead the public with their series of “The Pension Peril” and PBS ONLY returned the money because they got exposed, what’s to stop PBS from accepting money from these rich organizations but this time PBS will most likely be uber-surreptitious by covering their tracks. Fortunately, David Sirota has his eyes on them and other “non-profit” organizations who seem to lean towards the smell of dirty money.

David Sirota, you are awesome! Keep the public informed about these deals that seem not to be in the public’s interest.

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- Michael Brocoum says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 1:36 pm
  
  I will no longer contribute to PBS unless they limit contribution amounts from any source to say $100 per year.
  
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Robert Rendo says:

February 15, 2014 at 1:04 pm

Mr. Sirota,

If you are reading this, please accept my most intense gratitude for your maverick journalism. You have set off a chain reaction . . . . .

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- Detroiter says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 1:49 pm
  
  He’s on twitter…
  
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 2:47 pm
    
    Unfortunately, I don’t twitter, but something tells me he knows the prominence of this blog and is reading the post . . . . .
  - 2old2teach says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 11:41 pm
    
    LOL. I believe the correct term is “tweet.” I don’t twitter either. 🙂
- Detroiter says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 9:12 pm
  
  No biggie, but i do want to recommend Twitter, especially for “breaking news”. The Sirota story was an example. The events unfolded quickly with David saying go here and comment, and then their response. The Michael Dunn verdict is another. Incredible confluence of people, info, responses and trends, all with supporting links. The search option leads you to these streams. Very powerful.
  
  Reply
Communist Teacher says:

February 15, 2014 at 1:06 pm

dated but still informative and revealing article from FAIR on PBS and its corporate allegiances

http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/time-to-unplug-the-cpb/1475/

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SciTeach says:

February 15, 2014 at 2:27 pm

Also I like Bill’s interview with Dave Simon the writer. He has some very choice things to say about the 1%, of which he admits he is one. I agree if I could earmark my donation for his show I would give. The News Hour Ed reporting is almost as one-sided as NBCs.

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Robert D. Shepherd says:

February 15, 2014 at 9:25 pm

BTW, in other news:

01/07/14
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced today grants to Smarter Balanced and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) totaling more than $1.6 million. These grants will fund a partnership between the two multi-state assessment consortia and the nation’s largest teachers’ unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), to further engage educators in the development of next-generation assessment systems.

From the Rheformish Lexicon:

union: universal scapegoat. See, however, AFT and NEA.

AFT and NEA: propaganda ministries of the Common Core Curriculum Commissariat and Ministry of Truth (MiniTru). Archaic usage: organizations representing the rights and interests of teachers; teachers’ labor unions. See Union.

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- 2old2teach says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 11:44 pm
  
  Please tell me this news is a bad joke.
  
  Reply
  - Robert D. Shepherd says:
    
    February 16, 2014 at 12:04 am
    
    No, 2old. That’s the story, from the Smarter Balanced website. Shameful.
- Robert D. Shepherd says:
  
  February 16, 2014 at 12:41 am
  
  I suspect that the word has now gone out to the entire community of collaborators that a big PR push is needed because the deformers are seeing pushback.
  
  Expect to see a lot of phony grass roots in favor of the CCCC over the next few months–teachers’ and students’ gushy letters to the editor about their salvation via DEFORMY MAGIC, pieces from union leaders striking “statesmanlike” stances about how we all have to put aside pettiness and get on with these deforms for the sake of the children, more phony studies showing support for Son of NCLB (sort of like the mass rallies that dictatorial regimes always stage)–that sort of thing. And the deformers have ENORMOUS RESOURCES with which to plaster these smiley faces everywhere.
  
  And they have learned that the way to sell it to the public is to co-opt the anti-deform stances–putting out a piece calling for ending the testing obsession and using fewer, better tests (uh, like the ones they are preparing), for example–that’s a really good one–and counting on the totally controlled and compliant media in the U.S. (think Pravada) to run these PR/propaganda pieces as news stories and objective commentary.
  
  The deformers’ biggest problem, however, is that their new tests are C.C.R.A.P., as the recent trial runs of them have abundantly demonstrated. What to do there? That’s the biggest issue that the deformers face, for the brightest of them have to know that when these new tests are rolled out nationwide, there is going to be a public policy supernova of the like that the country hasn’t seen before.
  
  And at the same time, much of the country has no notion, yet, that any of this is happening. There are many millions of people who haven’t any idea that they now have new national “standards” and national tests. That’s as key to the deformer strategy going forward as is the river of money flowing from the oligarchs into the pockets of their collaborators.
  
  Reply
  - Michael Brocoum says:
    
    February 16, 2014 at 12:15 pm
    
    Key part of your post “river of money flowing from the oligarchs into the pockets of their collaborators. That includes the NEA & AFT/UFT leadership.