On Monday, when I read Jules Crittenden’s review of the PBS Frontline documentary, Bush’s War, I was not as much surprised by the biased as I was upset that my tax dollars paid for this. It seemed that more often than not, PBS has become a federally subsidized outfit for anti-Republican propaganda.
To be sure, PBS has done produced some remarkable documentaries (I blogged about their docudrama on John Adams here). Their history documentaries are often quite good, but it seems that on current events, they tend to obscure, if not misrepresent, conservative ideas.
About a year ago, the network refused to air a documentary, Islam vs. Islamists about “moderate Muslims who have challenged the “Islamists” who espouse a more radical view of their religion.” There were reports that PBS executives were not happy that Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy and former Reagan administration official, was “associated with the film in a senior role.” In the end, the privately-owned FoxNews aired the program (probably guaranteeing it a larger audience than it would have had on PBS).
I wonder if PBS executive raised objections when high profile liberals played senior roles in the production of other documentaries.
As Crittenden finds in his review, producers of Bush’s War preferred critics of Vice President Cheney and former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to those who actually helped those Republican officials shape the decision to go to war:
Of the actual participants in events, there is a heavy reliance on well-known Rumsfeld-Cheney adversaries such Richard Clarke, Richard Armitage, with no mention of the fact that they, and virtually everyone in this depiction of recent history, have axes to grind and their own sullied legacies to patch up. Few people actually close or aligned with Rumsfeld or Cheney appear to have been interviewed. Possibly because they knew how this was going to end up
And they relied on another media favorite not known for his honesty:
The “16 words†controversy is presented by none other than Joe Wilson, with no mention of the view that — yellowcake deal or no yellowcake deal — Saddam Hussein in fact had been in the market for uranium in Africa. You can also remain innocent of the fact that Joe Wilson is himself a controversial figure whose qualifications for his task are highly questionable and were in fact a bizarre case of nepotism.
I wonder if they asked Joe how he squared his public statements with the report of the Senate Intelligence Committee which found them at odds with the record.
Why is this taxpayer-supported network producing programs which make little effort to offer both sides of the story, which criticize conservative policy makers without giving them a chance to defend their actions?
This would be one thing on a show like Keith Olbermann on a privately-owned network, but on public television? It’s a sad commentary that this is what we have come to expect from a network that you and I subsidize.
This is police-recorded transcript of what some Jihadis who were caught in Canada were telling each other.
Who is going to defend our country from people like this? Is Nancy Pelosi? What do you think our leaving Iraq would do to these people below.. do you think it would increase their motivation to destroy us ? Or decrease it?
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“But you know what? Your minds gotta be on this place. Your minds and your hearts have to be here. You go back, you’re living with society and you have to put on that face, you know what, we’re a bunch of peace lovers you know what, I love all this *non believers* yup I love your wealth … [GROUP LAUGHTER] … I love your women, I love everything about you …
[…]
“So although our bodies will be with the *non-believers* roaming around, going to work, trying to get money, sucking up to your boss, and this and that, you know, the typical idea of nice uh, do *favours* with the parents this and that … our hearts are with the people of *heaven* our hearts are with this group right here and everybody else that’s given the Covenant for us and be part of this, who are not here but *God willing* they are here with their hearts, all right?
“So you go back, *God willing* remember, doesn’t matter what trials you face [GROUP SIGHING] it doesn’t matter what comes your way. Our mission’s greater, whether we get arrested, whether we get killed, we get tortured, our mission’s greater than just individuals. It’s not about you or I or this *leader* or that *leader* it’s not about that. It’s about the fact that this has to get done.
“Rome has to be defeated. And we have to be the ones that do it, no holding back, whether, it’s one man that survives, you have to do it. This is what the Covenant’s all about, you have to do it. And *God willing* we will do it. *God willing* we will get that victory.
“… Well who’s gonna say anything about it. We destroyed your armies, you got nothing. We broke your knees. Rome, Rome, you guys realize who you’re messing with? This is Rome. This is the one empire that’s never been defeated.
“… But you know what? this empire has never been defeated. It’s like a friggin’ monster man. You cut off one hand, another one grows here, cut that one off, another grows here, cut that off, another one, another one, another one.
“Finally you had to leave the entire Europe because the Muslims are close to their shores. And here they came to North America and they got their fortress, they got their wall, they got their um, Patriot missiles, or whatever the heck they call them, trying to you know defend their airspace, this and that, but you know what?
“Here we are we entered your lands, we already started striking cause you know what? This training is striking at them. Saying *There is no God but God* …“It’s just we gottta stick with it man. If it takes long so be it. We just gotta stick with it because this is our mission. This is our life’s mission and Allah – has already purchased us, lives and our wealth in exchange for *heaven.* He’s already purchased it. We are fulfilling that, living it, alright.â€
Frontline has finally morphed into a high-brow version of the Michael Moore form of research: Start with your conclusion and then arrange the supporting evidence. "Bush’s War" is not exactly a title which reeks mystery.
 PBS and NPR can not exist without both public funding and the laws of Congress which force their place in prime locations on the airwaves.
PBS is infested with the Bill Moyers view of the cosmos, so there is a liberal and socialist filter installed that is just natural daylight to their producers and their avid viewers.
If PBS were worth its salt, they would air an honest rebuttal to their political salvos. That is how intellectually honest academics conduct themselves.
I read recently that NPR has been airing a small sampling of some Rightwing views. The angry mail and calls came pouring in. How dare NPR broadcast such propaganda and garbage.
This refers back to Dan’s post from the other day, the one John Santos highjacked in the comments. Liberals are completely unwilling to engage in any form of dialog. They want to preach and lecture – but won’t even listen to opinions from another point of view. Even if it’s tax dollars that are supporting their airwaves, they scream foul!
That’s it – I’m turning in my talking Elmo doll – it keeps calling me a neo-con…
Someone has to tell Americans the truth about how we were mislead into the Iraq quagmire.
Hey you guys!!
Great web page.. never knew there were GAY CONSERVATIVES..WOW!!
Your beef about PBS and NPR is RIGHT ON.
Did you catch last night??.. new show.. CLICK & CLACK.. Now, what could be political about cars. RIGHT??
But they managed a vicviois parody of Rush Limbaugh.
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’