Is It Me, or is Something Disturbingly Wack About PBS Lately...

[Robert Murphy]

Ok, I'm embarrassed to say I haven't been following the stunts the Bushies recently were trying pull with PBS as closely as I should have; I just know the basics of what the likes of Bill Moyers et al. were contending, and that what is on record supports said contentions.

Last night I tune into the local PBS affiliate here in Seattle. First time I've watched any TV in ages; the set is on loan from a friend who is in between apartments. "American Experience" is on. It's all about Reagan and his presidency. I'm expecting something sorta Frontline-esque; i.e., I don't expect the show to meet the same high standard Frontline so consistently achieves, but I figure the ratio of conservatives praising Reagan and liberals criticizing him will be more or less even.

NOT!

Good God, I was astonished by what I saw. There wasn't even a 'ratio.' What was supposed to pass for 'balance' amounted to what was an utterly inane, feeble, and calculated effort to pass off two hours of near-hagiography as a legitimate documentary. It went like this: the likes of George F. Will, Thatcher, Weingberger, et al. praising Reagan to the skies, sometimes followed by some (usually no-name) 'liberal' allowed a feebly dissenting sentence or two ripped out of context, and presented in such a fashion as to make said 'liberal' sound pissy and pedantic. (And wrong.) (There are exceptions. E.g., Chris Matthews, that notoriously fierce critic of Reagan, is allowed much more than two sentences, oddly enough. Among his most damning criticisms is Matthew's scathing accusation that Reagan was truly one with the American working-class Everyman...) I was left with the inescapable impression of a political infomercial masquerading as documentary. No, really, this thing had the feel of a video version of the Washington Times.

Then...

A promo for another 'documentary.' Evidently a biblical travelogue; the premise is some guy heads to the Levant for some Christian sight-seeing. The title is 'Walking the Bible' or something like that. This wouldn't have left any sort of impression on me had it not also included the bombastic line "Following in the footsteps of the greatest story ever told," and come right after 'The Story of St. Reagan.'

WTF? Seems like the Bushies efforts are paying off...

Robert

[FDR33]

1. I don't think it was a new program

I didn't find it too one-sided, I thought it was pretty fair.

[K8-EEE]

2. I Stopped Giving To PBS -- SIck Of Crap Like This

They still haven't recovered from that heckova job idiot that BushCo installed in there, who ended up resigning in disgrace of course...

[Blutodog]

3. Totalitarian state

We are now living in a Totalitarian state. Why are u surprised that State TV is acting the part? NPR has also taken on a much more rightist hue of late.

[peekaloo]

7. ironic given that the special championed Reagan's "efforts" to

end totalitarian states.

:eyes:

[Cleita]

4. It's been going to the right for some time now.

The management has effectively gotten rid of or marginalized the lefties. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching Fox. There still aren't any actressy anchors yet, but I'm sure they're coming.

[bloom]

5. "Cheryl Halpern Named Head Of Corporation for Public Broadcasting"

Washington Report, December 2005

Media Watch

Israel-Firster Cheryl Halpern Named Head Of Corporation for Public Broadcasting

By Richard H. Curtiss


CPB head Cheryl F. Halpern (www.cpb.org).

CHERYL F. Halpern, a major Republican fundraiser, has been elected the new chairwoman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The private, nonprofit corporation, created by Congress in 1967, describes itself as “the largest single source of funding for public television and radio programming.”

Halpern has served on the CPB board since 2002, and has criticized National Public Radio’s Middle East coverage, calling it biased against Israel. She has overseen such U.S. government-funded media projects as Voice of America, Radio Marti in Cuba and Radio Free Iraq. Formerly chairwoman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, Halpern currently sits on the board of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a spinoff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel’s Washington, DC lobby. In 2001 she used her own personal funds to commission a review of anti-Semitism in Syrian textbooks.

Halpern was a delegate from the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations to the 4th United Nations World Conference on Women’s Rights in 1995 in Beijing, and from 1998 to 2002 chaired the United Nations Advisory Council of B’nai B’rith International. Halpern’s selection as CPB chair, warned the citizens’ group Common Cause, may “mean more politicizing for public broadcasting.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Halpern’s family has business interests in Israel. She is married to Fredrick Michael Halpern, a real estate developer born in Bayreuth, Bavaria, who is a member of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith as well as of AIPAC. The couple has three children.

In her new role Halpern will oversee distribution of the $400 million in funds for public radio and television stations that CPB receives from Congress. In mid-October, conservative House Republicans proposed that taxpayer support for CPB be eliminated as part of a cost-cutting effort to pay for repairing the damage from Hurricane Katrina. Indeed, for many years some Republicans have sought to permanently eliminate CPB’s public funding....

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/December_2005/0512027.html

[SmokingJacket]

6. Yep. Bought and sold.

It's enough to make a person weep. You can thank the hard work of Kenneth Tomlinson, who's gone now, but wreaked plenty of damage. See here: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kenneth_Tomlinson

They didn't want to be the party that "killed Big Bird," so they instead of getting rid of PBS, they made it "balanced." Balanced my ass.

[yellowdogmi]

8. It caused me to have nightmares

and not the normal reoccuring one about umpa lumpa's. I think that any fair and balanced documentary should have blamed Ronnie for our current mess. Ie. Funding the afgan's that evolved into al q.
Additionally as I watched in abject horror they talked about the end of the cold war and how we out spent the soviet union til they reached economic collapse I couldn't help but think of an old adage I heard somewhere about "The enemy you know is better than the one you don't" I am no sympathizer of communist but with two super powers we had less area to police/defend. I believe their influence helped keep the lid on the spread of islamic fascism. Still it was more ronnie cheering than I could stand. I am sure Grover was behind it. I hope there is a special circle in Hell reserved for men like him.
:puke:
:hurts:
:banghead:

[goclark]

9. They are doing the complete take over :( nt

[flordehinojos]

10. ronal reagan?

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: