This is an
Action Alert from Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) regarding a PBS documentary about George Shultz, the Secretary of State under the Reagan presidency. In most areas of the US it's on tonight at 10PM in the Eastern and Pacific time zones, and an hour earlier elsewhere. (Most likely if you're reading this now it's either on right now or it's passed, and many stations will re-run it at later times.) And links to citations are in the actual article.
Many PBS stations around the country will begin airing a three-part, three-hour documentary tonight (7/12/10) about Reagan-era Secretary of State George Shultz. According to the New York Times (7/12/10), the unusually lengthy, completely uncritical tribute is partially sponsored by corporations linked to Shultz's corporate career.
The special, Turmoil and Triumph, was funded by the Stephen Bechtel Fund and Charles Schwab. Shultz was a board member at both companies, and was president of the Bechtel Corporation from 1975 to 1982.
According to reviews, the documentary takes an overwhelmingly positive, even gushing stance. The Times' Alessandra Stanley points out, "There is no mention that Mr. Shultz was a cheerleader for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while still on the board of Bechtel, a construction and engineering firm that won huge contracts that were later criticized by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction."
And who sponsors this?
The political slant of the film is not a surprise. The company that produced it, Free to Choose Media, has had a hand in several conservative-oriented programs that have aired on public television, including 1980's Free to Choose, a special PBS series celebrating conservative economist Milton Friedman. As Greg Mitchell noted in the Nation (7/12/10), Free to Choose Media "was founded with money from the conservative Bradley Foundation and is part of the Palmer R. Chitester Fund."
Guess what? This is once again more hypocrisy when it comes to which side gets to sponsor programming! Remember back in the Super Bowl this year when CBS gladly aired Tim Tebow's Focus on the Family ad without another one countering it? Or the rejection of Moveon.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds"? Or the rejection of some Unitarian Church (don't quite remember) promoting gay rights?
Beyond questions about the tone and length of the special--"Even Ken Burns was able to polish off an entire mini-series about Thomas Jefferson in three hours," Stanley notes--it's troubling that PBS is airing a documentary funded by corporations with distinct ties to the subject of the film. In the past, PBS has rejected films for distribution based on these apparent conflicts of interest: The 1997 film Out at Work was refused because it received funding from labor unions and a lesbian group. The 1993 documentary Defending Our Lives addressed domestic violence--but one of the producers was affiliated with a support group for battered women, so PBS wouldn't air it (Extra!, 1-2/98). Even Lost Eden, a historical drama about a 19th century textile strike, was turned away because of labor funding (Extra!, Summer/90).
So now that you know that PBS is once again failing at a promise of quality programming, go and complain (maybe try not to sink to the Parents Television Council's level of asking people who haven't seen a show to complain en masse, and watch it on TV/online/friend's house/wherever):
PBS Ombud
Michael Getler
ombudsman@pbs.org
(703) 739-5290
I mean, this is the same PBS that used to have the hard-hitting duo of
Bill Moyers Journal and
NOW. And the
Frontline episode "
The Vaccine War" debunking the anti-vaccine movement. WHAT HAPPENED? More corporate swallowing of the mass media.
Some better TV at 10/9c tonight:
CSI: Miami on CBS or your local news.
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