West Virginia Governor Jim Justice is taking on a major liberal bastion.
Back in August of 2021, he appointed five new people to the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority.
In October of that year, he appointed Carl Antonlini as the West Virginia Public Broadcasting executive director.
Now he’s taking on liberal public broadcasting.
In August 2021, Justice appointed five new members to the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority.
Among the new directors was attorney Danielle Waltz, a top lobbyist for the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. She had been a member of the board of directors of the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, a conservative think tank that has characterized state funding on West Virginia Public Broadcasting as “wasteful” spending that should be returned to taxpayers.
Another new director was political consultant Greg Thomas, a lobbyist and former top adviser to coal baron Don Blankenship, who infamously spent a year in federal custody over safety failures at a mine where an explosion killed 29 miners. Thomas’ Twitter feed contains frequent digs at media outlets, including NPR.
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Another new director was political consultant Greg Thomas, a lobbyist and former top adviser to coal baron Don Blankenship, who infamously spent a year in federal custody over safety failures at a mine where an explosion killed 29 miners. Thomas’ Twitter feed contains frequent digs at media outlets, including NPR.
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In early October 2021, the Educational Broadcasting Authority fired Roberts without publicly stating a cause. Two weeks later, the board named Antolini to serve as West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s acting executive director.
Rachel Maddow isn’t happy Govneor Justice is taking on public broadcasting.
During a segment on her show, she lashed out at the Governor and warned, “Other Republican governors will see what he’s doing and try to emulate it themselves.”
VIDEO (partial transcript via Newsbusters)
From the video above:
“RACHEL MADDOW: Just today, in West Virginia. NPR reporting on how Republican Governor Jim Justice in West Virginia has declared war on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Which is increasingly important as a news source in West Virginia particularly as the news business has led to the collapse of lots of local gathering news operations.
But at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Jim Justice has decided that’s got to go too. So he’s gotten rid of the professional leadership. He installed his own communications director as the new CEO and now they’ve started firing reporters who have reported on scandals and failures in Governor Justice’s administration.
I could describe that West Virginia situation as a scandal. I think for most Americans who value the idea of a free and independent press, it would be seen as a scandal. But just watch. If what Jim Justice is doing with the media in West Virginia, if that starts getting national attention.
Just watch, other Republican governors will see what he’s doing and try to emulate it themselves. Because this is what’s in style right now on the American far right. It is a race to outdo each other with this stuff now. And we know where it ends. We’ve seen this playbook lots of different places. We can see it all around the world.”
Liberals hate when Republicans even the playing field!
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