It looks like David Barton is undermining Alabama Educational Television (note - I edited the poorly written AP story to try and clarify the roles of the persons involved):

3 more quit Ala Public TV board after firings

Three more people have quit a board [“Foundation”] linked to Alabama Public Television, the chairman said Thursday, bringing to seven the total number of departures from network organizations since leaders decided to fire two top network executives.

Chairman Gordon Martin, vice chair William E. Smith and board member C. Scott McLain resigned from the Alabama Public Television Foundation Board, said Ferris Stephens, the chairman of a separate oversight commission. The board [“Foundation”] is a private group with duties that include helping the network raise money.

The departures mean seven of 16 members have now quit the three panels that help operate Alabama’s public television network. Their departures follow an oversight commission’s decision last week to fire APT director Allan Pizzato and another top executive.

[…]

The wave of resignations follows a decision last week by the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which Stephens chairs, to fire Pizzato and Pauline Howland, who served as deputy director and finance chief.

Commission members are considering what commission member Rodney Herring of Opelika described as personnel changes and an overall restructuring at the network, which operates nine television station and one radio station statewide.

Minutes from a March meeting also show commission members discussed - at Herring’s urging - the addition of videotaped shows by an evangelical Christian group called WallBuilders that supports a biblical view of U.S. history.

The minutes show Herring told members Pizzato was concerned about airing the videos on public television and had received an opinion from a lawyer stating the shows could jeopardize the network’s operating license from the Federal Communications Commission. Herring told members the same lawyer told him something else.

The records show Herring made a motion that Pizzato report on the WallBuilders programs and a separate show about biblical creationism at the commission’s next meeting. The item was placed on the agenda for the meeting last week, members said, but Pizzato and Howland were fired on a 5-2 vote before Pizzato could make the report.

While commissioners said the network could still air WallBuilders programs - which highlight the roles of Christian leaders and theology in American history - they also said no major programming changes will be made.

[…]

So, if I have this story correct, there is a struggle between a private Foundation set up to help fundraise for APT, the actual APT executive board, and another oversight commission.

Apparently Barton is trying to get APT to air his propaganda. It’s not clear to me exactly which players, among the Foundation, the APT executive board, and the oversight commission are Barton’s friends/plants, and which ones are trying to fight Barton’s ploy.

Nevertheless, the result of Barton’s attempt to bring APT under his organization’s sway is having a messy fallout over the entire upper echelon of APT.