[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [ALACOUN:13888] (Fwd) Education Secretary Condemns PBS Show

[Alfred Kagan]

More good news about the Bush Administration and our so-called "public" 
media.

> --------------------
> Education Secretary Condemns PBS Show
> --------------------
>
> By BEN FELLER
> AP Education Writer
>
> January 25, 2005, 8:47 PM CST
>
> WASHINGTON -- The nation's new education secretary denounced PBS on
> Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters,
> saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.
>
>
> The not-yet-aired episode of "Postcards From Buster" shows the title
> character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont -- a
> state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode 
> features two
> lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.
>
> A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has
> decided not to distribute the episode, called "Sugartime!," to its 349
> stations. She said the Education Department's objections were not a 
> factor
> in that decision.
>
> "Ultimately, our decision was based on the fact that we recognize this 
> is a
> sensitive issue, and we wanted to make sure that parents had an 
> opportunity
> to introduce this subject to their children in their own time," said 
> Lea
> Sloan, vice president of media relations at PBS.
>
> However, the Boston public television station that produces the show,
> WGBH, does plan to make the "Sugartime!" episode available to other
> stations. WGBH also plans to air the episode on March 23, Sloan said.
>
> PBS gets money for the "Postcards from Buster" series through the
> federal Ready-To-Learn program, one aimed at helping young children
> learn through television.
>
> Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the "Sugartime!" episode
> does not fulfill the intent Congress had in mind for programming. By
> law, she said, any funded shows must give top attention to
> "research-based educational objectives, content and materials."
>
> "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the
> lifestyles portrayed in the episode," Spellings wrote in a letter sent
> Tuesday to Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS.
>
> "Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this programming
> certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children,
> particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television."
>
> She asked PBS to consider refunding the money it spent on the episode.
>
> With her letter, Spellings has made criticism of the publicly funded
> program's depiction of the gay lifestyle one of her first acts as
> secretary. She began on Monday, replacing Rod Paige as President Bush's
> education chief.
>
> Spellings issued three requests to PBS.
>
> She asked that her department's seal or any statement linking the
> department to the show be removed. She asked PBS to notify its member
> stations of the nature of show so they could review it before airing 
> it. And
> she asked for the refund "in the interest of avoiding embroiling the
> Ready-To-Learn program in a controversy that will only hurt" it.
>
> In closing, she warned: "You can be assured that in the future the
> department will be more clear as to its expectations for any future
> programming that it funds."
>
> The department has awarded nearly $99 million to PBS through the
> program over the last five years in a contract that expires in
> September, said department spokesman Susan Aspey. That money went to 
> the
> production of "Postcards From Buster," and another animated children's 
> show,
> and to promotion of those shows in local communities, she said.
>
> The show about Buster also gets funding from other sources.
>
> In the show, Buster carries a digital video camera and explores
> regions, activities and people of different backgrounds and religions.
>
> On the episode in question, "The fact that there is a family structure 
> that
> is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the 
> focus of
> the show, nor is it addressed in the show," said Sloan of PBS.
>
>
> But she also said: "The department's concerns align very closely with
> PBS' concerns, and for that reason, it was decided that PBS will not be
> providing the episode." Stations will receive a new episode, she said.
>
> * _
>
> On the Net:
>
> Postcards from Buster: http://pbskids.org/buster/
>
> Education Department: http://www.ed.gov
> Copyright (c) 2005, The Associated Press
>
>
> --- End of forwarded mail from  "Don Wood" <dwood at ala.org>
>
>
>
>
Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliogrpaher and Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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