Censorship & Objectivity, Part II
This Washington Times article lays out a different perspective on how PBS censored a documentary titled Islam vs. Islamists. Here’s Frank Gaffney’s take on this case of blatant censorship:
The producers of “Islam vs. Islamists” say their taxpayer-funded film has been shelved by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in “an ideological vendetta,” and because the production team includes conservative columnist Frank Gaffney Jr., founder of the Center for Security Policy.
“This is a well-documented, textbook case of the abuse of taxpayer funding by elements in the public broadcasting system to advocate their agenda and ensure that people who have different agenda don’t get on the air,” Mr. Gaffney said yesterday. “The public ought to be allowed to see a film which PBS doesn’t want them to see.”
PBS is defending itself by saying that the film might air in the future. As I pointed out last night, their official statements are contradicted by Jeff Bieber’s statement:
Jeff Bieber, WETA’s executive producer for Crossroads, gave a substantially different explanation. He said Burke’s film had “serious structural problems (and)…was irresponsible because the writing was alarmist, and it wasn’t fair. They’re crying foul, and there was no foul ball,” Bieber added. “The problem is in their film.”
I agree that Mr. Gaffney’s tone is alarmist. There’s a good reason for that: There’s lots of things happening here in America that are very alarming. People have a right to be alarmed when CAIR files a lawsuit that intimidates airline passengers. People have a right to be alarmed when Speaker Pelosi and Chairman John Conyers co-sponsor a bill that would ban religious or racial profiling in airports. People should be alarmed when CAIR can masquerade as a reputable civil rights organization when it’s really a front group for Hamas:
CAIR was co-founded in 1994 by Ibrahim Hooper, Nihad Awad, and Omar Ahmad, all of whom had close ties to the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which was established by senior Hamas operative Mousa Abu Marzook and functioned as Hamas’ public relations and recruitment arm in the United States. Awad and Ahmad had previously served, respectively, as IAP’s Public Relations Director and President. Ibrahim Hooper was also an employee of IAP. Thus it can be said that CAIR was an outgrowth of IAP.
PBS doesn’t have any credibility left after this:
Before filming began last year, Burke says, Bieber asked him, “Don’t you check into the politics of the people you work with?”
That’s how Bieber let it be known that an accomplished national security expert like Frank Gaffney could be disqualified because he wasn’t a liberal.
My question to Mr. Bieber is a simple one: If Gaffney’s information is accurate, why does political affiliation mean anything? The obvious answer is that if the information is accurate, it shouldn’t make a bit of difference what a person’s political affiliation is.
Here’s Dr. Zuhdi Jasser’s statement, which I think is the final nail in the PBS coffin:
“I am incredulous that PBS would invest so much of our tax money into contracting professionals for a documentary on a subject, the struggle for the soul of Islam, which is one of the most vital debates of the 21st century and then censor its release,” said Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of the Arizona-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy who is featured in the documentary.
“Until mainstream media and mainstream America understands the need to help this debate and expose the plight of moderates who push back against the Islamists within the Muslim community, we will continue to lose ground against militant Islamism,” Dr. Jasser said. “The censorship of this documentary tells us a great deal about the level to which our government is facilitating the ideology of Islamism which runs directly counter to our foundations of Americanism.”
I can’t put it any better than that. I totally agree with Dr. Jasser.
Technorati Tags: PBS, Censorship, Jeff Bieber, Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, Zuhdi Jasser, CAIR, Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook, Nihad Awad
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog