CPB oversteps boundaries in bypassing PBS
By Lee Levkowitz -- Intern
Posted on Thu May 31, 2007 at 09:17:05 AM EST
PBS recently deemed the documentary, "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center" unacceptable for broadcasting because they find it to be "incomplete" and does not meet "editorial standards." The documentary is part of a $20 million series funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that examines problems facing the nation following the September 11 attacks. After spending $675,000 on the show and receiving a letter from eight members of Congress, CPB will not be letting the show be shelved despite PBS' concerns, and has decided to take matters into their own hands. CPB will be releasing "Islam vs. Islamists" to Oregon Public Broadcasting for distribution to other public stations.
Now I guess this would be ok if it weren't for the fact that CPB is a non-profit organization that
does not produce or broadcast programs, they award grants to public broadcasting stations, independent producers, and program development and production organizations such as NPR and PBS. Their sole purpose is to act as a heat shield between stations and Congress.
The CPB should perform solely an advisory role, and should not exercise any control over daily station operations. I completely agree with Jeff Chester on this one. Here's what Communications Daily quoted him saying on May 24.
Calling the CPB move "troubling," Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy said CPB's role in such episodes is ill-defined. CPB is supposed to be a heat shield, not really a producer. That role has been redefined over the years to give CPB the ability to create programming "With "Islamists" if the CPB were "unhappy" with a PBS editorial decision it should appeal to the Congress and to the public he said: "It should not try to act as a distributor and bypass the PBS editorial process. This incident illustrates sadly once again how ideology not the public interest governs CPB at the moment"
Tags: Media and Democracy, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, CPB (all tags)
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