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Introduction: Public Broadcasting: Private Agenda?
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20116 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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2 / 1992 |
632 Words |
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Public television, a noble experiment launched by the Great Society of the 1960s, today faces a bleak future, its very existence in question because of modern technology, an ever mounting public debt, and biased political programming.
When public television was born, only 2 percent of America's homes had cable TV, and VCRs did not exist. Now nearly 60 percent of the nation is wired, and the video rental card is more popular than that library card.
A quarter of a century ago, PBS' Masterpiece Theatre and The World of Jacques Cousteau were the only programs of their kind in a vast television wasteland. Today, because of cable, there is the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, Bravo, the Arts and Entertainment Network--as many as 75 options in some localities.
In 1967, the nation could indulge itself in luxuries like public broadcasting: The national budget deficit was only $8.6 billion. But this year's deficit is expected to top $350 billion. Every federal program, including the Corporation for Public Broad casting (CPB), Which is currently allotted $253 million, must submit itself to close scrutiny.
Veteran watchers of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), like Rep. Don Ritter of Pennsylvania, like what they see less and less. They have become increasingly concerned about the lack of balance and objectivity in many PBS public affairs programs. They wonder whether those who run public broadcasting have their own private agenda.
In this month's Special Report, Congressman Ritter criticizes PBS for its one-sided programming (it aired, for example, only the doomful side of the global warming issue), and says that Congress has taken steps to ensure more accountability in the distribution of federal funds. The CPB must now provide Congress with a list of all organizations it gives grants to as well as give descriptions of all programs produced under such grants.
Joseph Goulden, a Publitzer Prize-winning journalist and media analyst, echoes Ritter's criticism, Charging that PBS consistently violates the Public Broadcasting Act, which requires that programs be produced with strict adherence to objectivity and balance. A prime offender is the Frontline series which boasts of its many awards but bridles when reminded that 11 of its programs on Central America and related subjects reflected an open anti-American
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