By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Monday’s special meeting of the state Educational Broadcasting Authority turned into a “meet and greet,” with five of the eight appointed members of the authority newly appointed by Gov. Jim Justice.
Those include controversial appointments that led to complaints that Justice is stacking the governing board of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with political partisans, who as Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, noted, may not be “real champions of Public Broadcasting.”
That includes longtime Republican political operative Greg Thomas, and Danielle Waltz, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyist who has lobbied for Republican issues and served on the board of directors of the conservative-leaning Cardinal Institute, which has advocated for defunding West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
During his confirmations hearing, Thomas said he neither watches nor owns a television, saying he gets his news mostly from social media, and told senators he did not coin the phrase “fake news,” but wishes he had…
