Ombudsman's Mailbag, A Potpourri
Ken A. Bode
June 1, 2010
The CPB Ombudsman may be contacted by telephone, e-mail or ordinary U.S. mail. This posting is a review of recent suggestions, complaints, observations and advice received from viewers and listeners.
Since it was announced that Bill Moyers Journal and NOW with David Brancaccio both would end their runs on PBS, I have received a steady stream of viewer complaints.
Typical is this from Michael Walsh of Florida:
You've got some very good programs, but those are two of the best, and you've got a lot of nonsense programming that doesn't really inform anyone. So, two programs that are that good, that absolutely outstanding. Moyers I can sort-of understand, maybe he's getting ready to retire, but NOW? How could you drop that program? I don't care if you've got six people watching it. It's six people who need to know that information. I've been a long-time supporter and I find this astounding.
Not so typical, but not unusual, was this suggestion that Bill Moyers is being forced off the air:
(Bill Moyers Journal and NOW) are the only shows on the air with any ring of authenticity. The news of their cancellation is dismaying, disheartening and depressing. Maybe Moyers has stepped on too many toes? This is just ludicrous! It shows an ignorance of reality outside the Beltway. We need truth-tellers. They're in short supply.
From the Ombudsman's website:
It would seem that the powers that be in government and at CPB and PBS may not want governmental corruption and the futility of engaging in endless wars exposed, and that some sort of political coup may have occurred in the guise of PBS "reinventing its news and public affairs genre" as occurred in 2004 . . . when the hour-long Wall Street Journal Editorial Report (was added to the Friday night schedule). Moyers and Now gave the public one-and-a-half hours a week of exposure to progressive voices. On the other hand, conservative Charlie Rose is allowed to continue his five hours a week of right-wing interviewing ad infinitum. Why?
There are, as always, observations about the underlying politics of The NewsHour and NPR reporting as being too liberal, too conservative or just too conventional. I have written here before that public broadcasting seems to be a Rorschach test that reveals as much about the political leanings of the viewers and listeners as it does about the reporting in the broadcasts. Some examples:
From Maryland:
America is a failing state and The NewsHour continues to pitch confidence — more of the 'con' in the confidence game — because Americans just don't want to face reality . . . We see the mess we're in because we permitted those who incentivized the worst appetites of human beings to make money on providing them with credit they should not have done in the first place. We have a situation that is untenable. We will never pay back the debt of the United States of America and the budget deficit. You know how many years that will take with very severe cuts in Medicare, Social Security? Increase taxes? That's never going over because the wealthy and the powerful buy the politicians with the fiat that was used by Ben Bernanke and Paulsen to bail out what they thought was this great economy . . . You know, the concern was that we should not offend the powerful, the ones who need gambling money. So now we're getting what we deserve.
From Maryland:
You look at the corporate funding and the foundations that fund The NewsHour, and you wonder why people like me are very, very skeptical—cynical—about the coverage that has failed to happen on The NewsHour. You have to go to Bill Moyers, frankly, for better coverage. Frontline is good at it. But really . . . you guys just don't cover what goes on on Wall Street. If 40% of corporate profits were in the financial sector, going up and now coming down, these guys are still making out, there's something rotten in Denmark. You guys, that is to say The NewsHour, are just not covering it. Please speak to your Ombudsman about that.
From Maryland:
The NewsHour needs to bring on more non-conventional, status-quo oriented people to comment on the economy. People like David Wessel who wrote a book "In Fed We Trust" is going to take the position that it's a populist anger rather than a rational critique and rebuke of an economic business model that has failed the American people . . . I wish you would give up on this rhetoric about how it's populist anger, because that makes us populists angry. Because you are skewed in the direction of conserving a system that failed, and the reasons for that failure can be identified and criticized on a rational basis . . . All the people on The NewsHour seem to be faithful to the belief that we can't do much better. That low expectation reinforces the idea that the people outside looking in are perhaps not getting it. Well, there are many of us who get it, and I'm suggesting to you that if you on the inside don't get it, evil becomes necessary, sometimes too urgent.
From a listener in Tennessee who believes NPR has tilted in the wrong direction on the question of immigration policy:
I understand you guys have your agendas, but can't you at least put a little bit of anything out there except the one side? You don't hear anything about the 9,250 Americans who are killed every year by illegal aliens, either murdered or killed in car accidents. I know. I've lost four friends and one was a family member. He was a deputy sheriff coming home from work and he was hit by a carload of Guatemalans who were drunk. A friend of mine's daughter was raped an murdered by an MS-13 member. A friend of mine—a Vietnam veteran and war hero was killed in southern California by a drunk Mexican . . . Another friend of mine was murdered by a gang member. It just goes on and on and you say nothing about these stories. A young black girl who went to Tennessee State was killed by a Mexican drunk driver several years ago, days before she was going to graduate and be in the 2008 summer Olympics. There are no stories about people who have lost their lives because of illegal aliens. But of course on NPR they say that people are anti-immigrant. People are anti-illegal immigrants. I don't care if they're from Ireland, Germany or England—an illegal alien is an illegal alien. It's just that we're having a lot of trouble with the ones from south of the border. But I'm sure NPR will get right on that!
For the five years I have served as Ombudsman for CPB, there have been complaints about how public broadcasting treats Jewish issues and the nation of Israel. Opinions arrive on both sides of the question.
From California:
My name is Jacob Meleck and I'm an Israeli citizen. I resent the consistent and persistent yellow journalism by this female interviewer on KVCR (Riverside, CA). I want my comments to go to the Ombudsman. I'm going to file a lawsuit against you on behalf of Israel and the United States to revoke your license. She knew the guy she was interviewing was not qualified and had no evidence to support his opinions except for the fact that he was very biased against the Jewish people and against the state of Israel. Because he accused the state of Israel as people that go and kill leaders of other countries. And he was justifying this murder of this professor in Iran and accused Israel of the crime. And she was encouraging him. She knew before the broadcasting that his opinion was frivolous. He's not fair. He's not honest. He's not supported by any evidence. And this is not the first time she has people like that. And when she has the Israeli people, she is very obnoxious. She is delinquent and very, very biased and prejudiced. I call her news cheap, yellow journalism. I will follow my complaint in the federal court. I consider her to be a real danger to my country Israel and to the United States. Period." (323) "I'm calling from Orange County. I've been complaining about KOCE (Huntington Beach, CA) about its one-sided broadcasting. We see shows about "Jews in America" and "Visions of Israel" over and over again, the same programs. They've been doing this for years. We never see shows about Arabic-speaking countries or Muslims on KOCE public television. It is obvious to many, many people in Orange County that this amounts to a selling of the Jews to the public. And it's public television! It's unfair to be cheerleading for one side, and this is definitely what's happening. They're feeding the American people one side of the equation, trying to sell one side, and this is people's money going into this and government money, and this should be looked at. The fact that the program director on KOCE happens to be Jewish might have quite a bit to do with it. This should be looked into. This is an abomination and it is why our foreign policy is in the trash can regarding the Middle East. This amounts to brainwashing. It affects our peace process. Someone should check this out please. This is serious and distressing. I'm not grandstanding. I'm concerned enough to withdraw my funding from this station. I am so surprised about this bias on the part of a PBS station. This is very wrong.
We get production and editorial suggestions:
Portland, Oregon:
My name is Larry Smeltzer and I'm a great fan of PBS and CPB. I'm concerned about the increasing intrusion of background effect noise for transition for programs that really don't require it, and what I believe are really detrimental to the thrust of any given program "The Ghosts of Machu Picchu" would be a good case in point, co-sponsored by NOVA and National Geographic. I found really disgracing the kind of underlying symphony of clatter that goes along with these programs. And you really don't need it. The program is one of such quality that I think you're in danger of going down to the level of the Discovery Channel, which I believe is geared toward teenagers. Anyway, that said, please review the process by which background sound effects are added to these programs.
Sometimes viewers suggest entire programs:
Maryland:
I'd like Frontline to do a show combining (Michael Lewis's) "The Big Short" and Pope Benedict's decision to not try the priest from Milwaukee. Maybe add a little bit of the Scottish court's decision to let that poor Muslim murderer who blew up people over Lockerbie to return home to Libya to a hero's welcome because Gordon Brown wanted an opportunity in Libya to explore for oil. Michael Lewis suggests more laws — NO! Perhaps the change has to be in us — we have to transform the evil that is so tightly commingled in each one of us that produces the kind of economic debacle that occurred. You know, there's a book that came out several years ago called "Esau's Tears" — and this is to my Jewish brethren — again, I'm a very, very profound Zionist, but I will not accept a tradition that condemns Christians and Muslims. Ask Elie Wiesel how the millions of Americans were murdered by Bernie Madoff and how many millions of Americans were bailed out by Ben Bernanke.
Over the past several months, I have received rave reviews from all over the country about the program "Sit and Be Fit."
Ohio:
I watch it every morning on Channel 14. I just wonder if it is available anywhere else on TV.
Pennsylvania:
Oh, my God! I just wanted to thank y'all for doing something for us, you know, for the larger women. And my husband. He hasn't tried it yet but I'm going to get him to do it. He's a bit large himself, about 350 lbs. I'm only 25, but I'm extremely heavy. God bless you all.
New Jersey:
Gloria here. I have caught on my local channel Sit and Be Fit. I'm delighted with the program. I also have the booklet. Call me to discuss.
Texas:
I like the Sit and Be Fit program that you have every day, as I watch it every day. I enjoy PBS very much.
North Carolina:
I'm calling for Annette Reeve. She enjoys watching Sit and Be Fit, but it has been removed from her local PBS channel. It came on at 5:00 a.m. She would like it back on her station and offered later in the day.
Finally, a lament from a viewer about a Jim Lehrer NewsHour segment on Tiger Woods:
Please, I was so embarrassed for Jim Lehrer, for The NewsHour and for PBS when they made him do the interview with the golf analyst at Augusta regarding Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is one sportsman out of thousands. His tribulations have no business on PBS. There are sports channels, gossip channels, many other sources of information about his infidelities and marital problems. They have no place on The NewsHour.