Censorship & Objectivity?
The Arizona Republic’s Dennis Wagner has exposed PBS and Washington TV station WETA for censoring a documentary for political reasons. Frank Gaffney was a producer of a documentary titled “Islam vs. Islamists.” Here’s the section that puts WETA’s credibility at zero:
A Jan. 30 news release by the corporation listed Islam vs. Islamists as one of eight films to be presented in the opening series.
Mary Stewart, vice president of external affairs at WETA, said Burke’s documentary was not completed on time to be among 11 documentaries that will be aired beginning Sunday. Stewart said the picture may be broadcast by PBS at a later date.
“The film is a strong film,” Stewart said. “I’m still hoping to see this in the Crossroads initiative.”
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.”
It appears that Ms. Stewart chose to give a deceptive answer and that Bieber gave a straightforward, though impolite, answer. I suspect that Bieber is telling the truth. This paragraph will explain better what Bieber found objectionable:
Key portions of the documentary focus on Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix and his American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a non-profit organization of Muslim Americans who advocate patriotism, constitutional democracy and a separation of church and state.
Dr. Jasser first appeared on the national radar about a month ago when he offered to raise money for any John Doe defendants in the Flying Imam lawsuit:
Wide media attention is being given today to the lawsuit filed by CAIR on behalf of six imams against U.S. Airways for their claims of discrimination against race and religion. Most of the imams are from local mosques here in Phoenix and were removed from a U.S. Airways flight on November 21, 2006 en route to Phoenix from Minneapolis.
AIFD would like the American public to be aware of our following positions representing an alternative voice from the American Muslim community.
1. We will not accept the victimization agenda of organizations like CAIR. Lawsuits like the one announced today exploit the climate of political correctness and at the end of the day are harmful to the Muslim minority in America.
2. Make no mistake, this type of agenda and policy direction of organizations like CAIR only represents its own membership and its own donors. A relatively small percentage of the 5-6 million American Muslims are enrolled as members of CAIR. Recent reports of considerable donations to CAIR from foreign nations like Dubai and Saudi Arabia make these types of costly, distractive actions against domestic airlines such as US Airways very concerning in its manifestation of foreign interference.
It’s well-documented that CAIR has a history of having closer ties with Democrats than with Republicans. CAIR has always touted itself as a moderate Muslim civil rights organization. Their reputation was in danger of being ruined by Dr. Jasser. It isn’t unreasonable to think that WETA decided against “Islam vs. Islamists” because the documentary would’ve shown AIFD to be more moderate than CAIR.
Mr. Wagner also exposes some other troubling aspects to this censorship:
Among Burke’s examples of tampering:
- A WETA manager pressed to eliminate a key perspective of the film: The claim that Muslim radicals are pushing to establish “parallel societies” in America and Europe governed by Shariah law rather than sectarian courts.
- After grants were issued, Crossroads managers commissioned a new film that overlapped with Islam vs. Islamists and competed for the same interview subjects.
- WETA appointed an advisory board that includes Aminah Beverly McCloud, director of World Islamic Studies at DePaul University. In an “unparalleled breach of ethics,” Burke says, McCloud took rough-cut segments of the film and showed them to Nation of Islam officials, who are a subject of the documentary. They threatened to sue.
“This utterly undermines any journalistic independence,” Burke wrote in an e-mail to WETA officials.
In an interview, McCloud said she showed a single video frame to a Muslim journalist who was not a Nation of Islam representative.
However, in a January e-mail, McCloud told Crossroads producers that she had spoken with Nation of Islam representatives and “invited them over to view this section.” She also wrote that they were outraged “and will promptly pursue litigation.”
If that information isn’t troubling enough, there’s the concern over censorship because…GASP…a true conservative was a producer to the documentary:
In the making of Islam vs. Islamists, Burke’s co-producers were Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, and Alex Alexiev, the non-profit organization’s vice president. Both men are neo-conservatives who have written on the threat of “Islamofascism” to the free world.
Before filming began last year, Burke says, Bieber asked him, “Don’t you check into the politics of the people you work with?”
Bieber said PBS was concerned that the Center for Security Policy is an advocacy group, so its leaders could not produce an objective picture. Because of that, he suggested that Gaffney be demoted to adviser.
In other words, Bieber told the public that the film’s objectivity would be undermined because Gaffney isn’t objective. That smokescreen was exposed by Bieber’s questioning Burke about checking a man’s political credentials.
Let’s hope that another network picks up Burke’s documentary. That would go a long ways towards exposing CAIR for who they are.
Technorati Tags: CAIR, Nation Of Islam, Censorship, Jeff Bieber, PBS, Frank Gaffney, Zuhdi Jasser, AIFD, Islamofascism
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog