PBS emulates Islamists; silences dissent

PBS embraced some of the tactics used by “conservative” Islamists in their effort to silence the creators of Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center. That production documents Islamists attempting to silence their fellow Muslims — by either intimidation or any means necessary — who dared to advocate both free speech and the separation of church and state. PBS merely killed a project while silencing those whose political beliefs differ from their own. Fortunately, the producers are still around to speak.

Long an advocate of leftist slanted programming, PBS attempted to yet failed to deceive Congressman Jim Walsh as to why they pulled Islam vs. Islamists from their America at a Crossroads series. Frank Gaffney describes the crosstalk:

In seeking an explanation, Rep. Walsh remarked that Islam vs. Islamists “highlights the plight of moderate Muslims at the hands of their Islamist brethren.” He continued: “[It] answers a very important… and very timely question. After the attack on the World Trade Center, the bombings in Madrid in the commuter trains, the bombings in London on their commuter trains, in Turkey and other places… I heard the question asked over and over and over: ‘Where are the moderate Muslim voices? Where are the people of that same religion? Where’s their voice of outrage and condemnation over these attacks?’”

“The answer,” Rep. Walsh explained to PBS President Paula Kerger and her CPB counterpart, Pat Harrison, “is that there’s a concerted and substantial effort on the part of radical Wahhabist Islam to silence these voices with physical intimidation [and] verbal intimidation. And [the filmmakers] document it in the United States, in Canada and around the world: Denmark, France.”

Then Walsh threw down the gauntlet: “Based on what I’ve heard, there has been a longstanding and concerted effort to ensure that the American people, who paid for the production of this documentary, do not see it.”

The responses to these remarks were, at best, inaccurate and misleading. Two exchanges are illustrative. At one point, PBS’s Kerger told Rep. Walsh that Islam vs. Islamists had “not been rejected for air. The film is still in development and production. The film that you have is not a finished film.” Mr. Walsh replied, correctly, “I spoke with the producer. That film is finished.”

Then CPB’s Harrison interjected: “The problem is…they have two hours of material. They must get it down to one.” The congressman held up the finished, 52-minute show, saying, “I believe this… DVD is an hour long.”

Mr. Gaffney goes on to show how PBS’ claim the producers violated their policies concerning advocacy is ludicrous in light of PBS’ history.

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