Public Broadcasting and Political Balance: A New Twist
By ELIZABETH JENSEN
Published: June 29, 2005
Richard Perle, the former Bush administration adviser and Iraq war advocate, would make a ripe subject for many filmmakers. But when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded a preliminary grant for a film on Mr. Perle's neoconservative worldview, it gave the money to the British producer Brian Lapping, Mr. Perle's friend of four decades.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Lapping, an award-winning filmmaker, is sympathetic to Mr. Perle's outlook. "Quite a lot of the preconceptions about the neocons are just wrong," he said in an interview.
So the corporation took another unusual step. Seeking political balance on a charged topic, in late April it asked a half-dozen filmmakers to submit proposals for a separate film critical of White House foreign policy.
Sherry Jones, who has won awards for her work on the public television series "Frontline," was chosen, with an associate. They will examine "how the implementation of the so-called Bush doctrine has alienated traditional American allies, tarnished America's image abroad and possibly made the world more dangerous," the corporation said in a news release.
The grants to both Mr. Lapping and Ms. Jones, announced Monday, are part of the corporation's ambitious "America at a Crossroads" project, which will devote $20 million over three years to films examining America's role in the post-Sept. 11 world. The project, controversial from the start, comes even as the corporation, charged with overseeing public broadcasting, is embroiled in a debate over how to achieve balance and objectivity. Its chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, has pushed for more programs reflecting conservative viewpoints, to balance what he says is public television's liberal bias....
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/arts/television/29broa.html
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