PBS banned muslims against Jihad

a film they produced but are refusing to show it. If it is true that they produced this documentary why wouldn't they show it?

Why would they give it to FOX?

Anyone know anything about this and are you going to watch it?

Heard it on fox, they are showing it tonight at 9:00

I just did

to an article about this--I was googling for it when you asked the question:

http://musing-minds.com/2007/06/21/banned-by-pbs-muslims-against-jihad/ which links to this article from WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052402571.html

The 52-minute film contends that moderate Muslims are being intimidated by radical Islamists in several Western democracies, including the United States.

The dispute over the film thrust CPB into the middle of a politically charged affair. The film's producers claim that PBS and its producing station, WETA, both of Arlington, are kowtowing to conservative Muslims in "suppressing" the film. In an interview yesterday, Frank Gaffney Jr., one of the film's executive producers, said PBS and WETA were predisposed against it on personal and ideological grounds.

I don't get cable, and won't watch Fox, anyway. I hope that network doesn't butcher the film and turn it into something it is not--but I won't hold my breath.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052402571.html

with these pertinent paragraphs:

The 52-minute film contends that moderate Muslims are being intimidated by radical Islamists in several Western democracies, including the United States.

The dispute over the film thrust CPB into the middle of a politically charged affair. The film's producers claim that PBS and its producing station, WETA, both of Arlington, are kowtowing to conservative Muslims in "suppressing" the film. In an interview yesterday, Frank Gaffney Jr., one of the film's executive producers, said PBS and WETA were predisposed against it on personal and ideological grounds.

"I am a person they regard as a conservative, and they regard the airwaves as a liberal domain," said Gaffney, a former Reagan administration defense official who now runs the Center for Security Policy.

WETA and PBS officials denied this yesterday. "We had no problem with the concept or ideology," said WETA spokeswoman Mary Stewart. "It was about filmmaking and documentary standards. We had no problem with the argument laid out in the film."


And no, I can't watch it as I don't have cable. Hope it is up in the bit torrents soon.

I am interested in seeing what they have to say

:(

I'm still trying to get my hands on the new film about US policy in Latin America that won't be distributed here, "The War on Democracy".

So many fires, so little time.

To break the logjam over the documentary, CPB this week released the film to Oregon Public Broadcasting, which will distribute it to stations around the country. The Oregon broadcaster also will stage a panel discussion about issues raised in the film that will run immediately afterward.

Although distribution by the Oregon group ensures that some viewers will eventually see "Islam vs. Islamists," it is likely to be far fewer than if PBS had carried it. While PBS doesn't control what public TV stations air, it does provide national distribution, scheduling coordination among public stations and promotional clout. What's more, public stations tend to view programs PBS distributes as high quality.

CPB's role in arranging distribution for a rejected program is apparently unprecedented. Its role is also unusual in other respects. The private, federally chartered agency was set up by Congress in the 1960s to buffer public stations from political pressure. Congress also provides an annual appropriation to public broadcasters.

Yet the timing of CPB's action suggests it was under political pressure. Earlier this month, the agency was asked by eight members of Congress why CPB did not allow the producers to seek another distributor (the Fox News Channel reportedly had expressed interest in the film). The issue also was raised last month during a House hearing on CPB funding.

However, CPB's actions raised suspicions that it was protecting a project favored by Republicans. The agency in 2005 faced complaints that it was politicizing public broadcasting after its former chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson, repeatedly criticized PBS and National Public Radio programs for an allegedly liberal tilt. Tomlinson helped appoint CPB's current president, Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

"It appears that CPB's leaders -- prominent Republicans -- are engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to secure an air date for a program appealing to their own conservative constituencies," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a nonprofit watchdog group. "Congress needs to investigate the corporation's own problems with fairness and balance."

:shrug:

Frank Gaffney heads a conservative thinktank, and was one of the founding signatories for the PNAC - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gaffney . Since TV documentary isn't what he normally does, it seems reasonable to think it's coming from his conservative politics - which is his job.

because their programming is amazingly free of this bs. I've learned more watching Link than is EVER made available on PBS. :shrug: