BROOKE GLADSTONE: And now an update. Last year the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Kenneth Tomlinson hired a consultant to ferret out political bias in NPR and PBS programming. That consultant was hired without the knowledge of the CPB Board, an unusual move now under investigation by the Corporation's Inspector General Kenneth Konz.

And this week Konz also agreed to investigate the process by which CPB's new president, Patricia Harrison, was selected, an investigation prompted by charges of, that's right, political bias.

Harrison is the former Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee, which makes you wonder if section 396 clause E, part 2 of the Public Broadcasting Act has been violated. It states that no political test or qualification shall be used in selecting employees of the corporation.

But if Chairman Tomlinson does find himself in hot water, it won't be for long. His term expires in September. The Washington Post reports that major Republican fundraiser and campaign donor Cheryl Halpern is next in line for the job. (MUSIC) Coming up, the insurgence. Pick a mouthpiece.

BOB GARFIELD: This is On the Media from NPR.