Since the House of Representatives began talk of defunding public broadcasting, and right-wing pundits started accusing NPR of a liberal bias, I have been paying closer attention to what gets broadcast on the public airwaves. Until recently I have been mystified by these accusations. Unlike commercial broadcast outlets like Fox and MSNBC which might bill themselves respectively as semi-official organs of the Republican and Democratic parties, PBS and NPR work to avoid partisanship or bias at all cost. Full disclosure – PBS, and number of local station affiliates, are clients of my firm, which has made me even more interested in this controversy.

As I was listening to NPR today, however, it hit me what conservatives may find too “liberal” about public broadcasting. I think it comes down to what might be termed “a slavish deference to the facts.”

For example, on NPR’s popular Science Friday show evolution is treated as a solid scientific basis for discussion, not a theory that should be debated on an equal footing with a religious theory: creationism. Ira Flatow regularly talks with scientists about discoveries that assume the earth is more than 6,000 years old. Doing so, he doesn’t question the assumption that the universe is billions of years old. To scientists this makes perfect sense, but to ideologues who would mix a religious theory with a scientific one, it is a clear sign of bias.

Another thing that must rankle conservatives is NPR and PBS treating controversial issues as just that: controversial. Abortion battles, the struggle for gay rights, immigration reform, and similar hot-button issues are all covered fairly with each side given almost a second-by-second parity. Conservatives accustomed to a sneer at liberal positions on these and other issues from their reliable Fox anchors can be forgiven for mistaking neutrality for a liberal bias.

Political discourse in this country has become so polarized that anyone airing the opposing side’s view of an issue is assumed to agree with that side. All this says to me is that we need more debate, more objectivity, and a greater reliance on the facts, not less. We need public broadcasting.

I am happy to welcome four terrific new professionals to the La Piana Consulting team. For the past several months we have been on a national search for top talent to add to our ranks, as new business continues to increase and opportunities to be of service to a variety of nonprofit clients are many.

We had over 200 applicants for 3 Senior Associate positions but our first hire came about from my direct outreach to someone I had long admired. Marco Montenegro joins us as a Senior Associate, based in the Bay Area. Marco was previously Director of Programs and External Relations for National Community Development Institute, a national intermediary building capacity in communities of color. Marco has a long history in nonprofit management, community organizing and activism which positions him well for his new responsibilities. He hit the ground running two weeks ago and was immediately assigned to our new strategy project with the NAACP. Marco was born in Mexico City and grew up in San Francisco. He lives on the Peninsula with his wife and twin daughters.

Amari Romero-Thomas joins us as a Bay Area-based Senior Associate after a distinguished career as a nonprofit manager and consultant. Most recently she was Senior Vice President in charge of grantee relations and grantmaking at United Way Silicon Valley. Previously she was a nonprofit executive director and did extensive consulting on human resource and strategy issues through the firm Drake Beam Morin. Amari was born in Santiago, Chile, attended college in the U.S. and lives with her husband in Silicon Valley.

Maria Markham will also join the firm next week as a Senior Associate based in Washington, D.C. Maria has been an independent consultant for the past 7 years working with clients ranging from HUD to the Annie E. Casey Foundation to the U.S. – Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership. She has also worked as an executive director and a development director in both the arts and health subsectors. Maria lives in Maryland with her husband and two young children. She was born, raised, and educated in Ireland.

The final new member of our team is Ann Mayo, Program Assistant. Ann has a diverse experience in client services, project coordination and administration across sectors. Prior to joining La Piana Consulting, Ann served the Chief Mission Delivery Officer of the American Cancer Society, California Division. Today she is an invaluable member of our operations team, providing support to consultants in a wide range of ways from survey management to meeting logistics.  Ann is a Bay Area native, a 6th generation Californian, and she always welcomes a good challenge, just like her distant relatives who were the first settlers to successfully pass through the Sierra Nevada mountain range after the Donner Party incident, while other relatives stayed behind in the Midwest to found the Mayo Clinic.

With these wonderful new colleagues the firm is ready to continue to provide great service to our clients in 2011 and beyond.