On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 9:47 AM, Mark J. <[email protected]> wrote: > > If you haven't checked it, the column of PBS ombud Michael Getler is > often a good read, if just to see what's bugging the pompous asses who > seem to write the most to him. The latest column deals with > complaints about the Ken Burns doc series on the national parks > premiering on Yom Kippur (even if many PBS stations dealt with that by > having the first airing in the afternoon on Sept. 27, before the prime > time airing) and PBS following their SOP on the network's tentpoles of > running an animated bug every 15 minutes of the PBS logo morphing into > the program logo and then back to the PBS logo: > > http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2009/10/the_mailbag_16.html (SNIP)
> Getler notes that the two biggest letter-getters were programs that > didn't air on PBS--an independently produced and syndicated doc on > autism and the disputed use of "facilitated communication" and a doc > supporting the so-called "9/11 Truth" movement that aired as a pledge > drive (!) attraction on defiantly lefty Denver secondary PBS affil > KBDI (well, what else would you call a station that counterprograms > the "NewsHour" on Denver primary affil KRMA with "Democracy Now!"). > Of course, even if the shows weren't PBS, people just saw that PBS > logo in the station logo bug in the lower-right-hand corner and > assumed... That is interesting. I don't know that, based on this sampling of letters, "pompous asses" (if by that you mean the white wine drinking pseudo-sophisticates who want their PBS music to be no more popular than the Three Tenors) is the most accurate description of the authors. The Truthers are more low brow than high or middle brow, and hardly the defenders of PBS status quo. OTOH, the critics of Facilitated Communication (including a letter from the great, and amazing, James Randi) while they may share with the Truthers a misunderstanding of which programs are produced by PBS, raise a reasonable and important point. Getler could have pointed out PBS (now I am wondering if it was literally a PBS show, but I think it was actually a Frontline piece) broadcast a very influential documentary on FC years ago that is generally seen as being very critical of the technique. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
