More bias at PBS

The American Thinker ^ | 11 April 2007 | Thomas Lifson (comments)

[Lando Lincoln]

In what appears to be a case of outrageous censorship by publicly-funded PBS, a documentary film, prepared by a partnership including the estimable Frank Gaffney, on the struggle between moderate and radical Muslims has been deep-sixed. We print below a statement prepared by Mr. Gaffney on the situation. Read the linked article and the statement and decide for yourself whether PBS is behaving as the even-handed non-partisan entity it is supposed to be. The statement:

Background

... Frank Gaffney was among those invited to submit a proposal for a documentary film about the world post-9/11 to the CPB... Shortly thereafter, a partnership was formed by Mr. Gaffney with Alex Alexiev (an internationally renowned expert on Islamism) and Martyn Burke (an accomplished author and Hollywood director of feature and documentary films) - ABG Films Inc.  ABG proposed to make an hour-long documentary about the plight of moderate Muslims at the hands of their Islamist co-religionists.

This film, with the working title of "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center," was one of thirty-five proposals selected by CPB out of roughly 440 competitors for a research and development grant.  The ABG team used this grant to produce a 35-minute short film and written treatment.  The ABG proposal was, in turn, one of 20 competitors further down-selected by CPB to receive a nearly $600,000 production grant.  At the time, moreover, it was announced in a CPB press release that "Islam vs. Islamists" would be one of the Crossroads series films to be aired by the Public Broadcasting Service...

[Lando Lincoln]

My first article post in some time.

[lonestar67]

Youve been gone too long.

[Lando Lincoln]

Thank you, my FRiend.

[EagleUSA]

The main power switch should have been thrown to OFF at PBS a very long time ago. Reasons very obvious.

[Doctor Raoul]

Defund CPB. Treason Should Not be Paid For With Tax Dollars.

[Old Sarge]

Wow! You’ve been gone almost as long as I was! Glad to see you, Lando!

And a good article post, as per your usual standard.

[Rodney King]

I agree. But patriotism shouldn’t really be funded either (not that this is). Point being: Just get the gov’t out of the media business.

We almost succeeeded in this back in the 1990’s. Then the GOP took control of the whole government and became worse spenders than the democrats ever were.

[freeangel]

Doesn’t “bias” imply a leaning of some sort? PBS is an arm of the democraTIC party.

[eleni121]

Glad you are back.

Yes PBS is a warped FIEND feeding off the body politic. Its rotten corpse needs to be extracted and discarded into the trashbin containing the remnants of Goebbels and Beria.

[T-Bird45]

Welcome back — interesting article. Where is Mr. Lincoln’s avatar?

[stephenjohnbanker]

How true : )

[Fester Chugabrew]

I think Gaffney called in to a show about this very subject last week on the Diane Rehm Show. The guest on the show said the movie was “deep sixed” because it overstated the differences between radical and moderate Muslims.

[Lando Lincoln]

God Bless you, Sarge. I hope you are well.

[Lando Lincoln]

I find that my webhost is no longer functioning. I gotta take a little time to get him programed elsewhere.

[Fester Chugabrew]

On 3 April, Mr. MacNeil denounced this film on a nationally syndicated NPR program as "extremely one-sided and alarmist."

There it is. I was listening when this accusation was made. I guess MacNeil does not trust the audience to determine what is "one-sided and alarmist." The bias is blatant in this and many other instances, but don't try to convince the people who make a living off it.

[colonel mosby]

More than a decade after the Republican Class of 94 promised to end taxpayer funding for PBS, it still has it, and it’s as liberal as ever.

Meet the new boss........same as the old boss.

[Savage Beast]

"Read the linked article and the statement and decide for yourself whether PBS is behaving as the even-handed non-partisan entity it is supposed to be."

WHAT?!??

This is a joke--right?

[ketsu]

Have you looked at the other documentaries?

Lots of interesting food for thought, these two especially:

The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom
Richard Perle advocates and defends neoconservative policies

Warriors
What is it really like to be a soldier in Iraq?

You can find out more about the series here:

http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/

[GATOR NAVY]

Defund CPB. Treason Should Not be Paid For With Tax Dollars.

Yep. But seeing as even when we had a Republican President, Senate, and House they couldn't do it, it isn't going to happen now.