PBS at a Crossroads

Why is a film on moderate Islam being suppressed?

By Frank J. Gaffney Jr., NRO

On March 21, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the federal budgets of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) challenged the leaders of those two organizations concerning their handling of the film Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center. The film was produced at a cost of some $675,000 in taxpayer funds for the PBS series “America at a Crossroads,” which will begin airing next week. As one of the executive producers of this documentary, I was surprised, and gratified, by Rep. Jim Walsh’s questions.

The congressman from Syracuse noted that he had seen the documentary, and he wanted to know why, considering how things stand in the world, PBS would not allow it to be viewed by the American people, whose taxes had enabled it to be made.

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.” CONTINUE
I hope that this PBS film is allowed to air. There is too much mollycoddling and historical revisionism in Canada and the USA which is meant to keep truth from hurting the feelings of certain Muslim groups. This is getting to the point of absurdity and is out of control.