Subject: Re: Frontline show From: xerxes@clark.net (xerxes) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 17:34:27 -0500 (EST)

Jane:
There is nothing magical about the objectivity of Frontline or PBS.  They
just serve a different set of masters, and do their nursing elsewhere,
including from the Federal Treasury as well as private foundations, and
WGBH's revenue stream from member stations.  It is a bit surprising to see
them try to stain Gore of all people, however.  It looks as if WGBH is
siding with Gephardt in the positioning for 2000;  someone should remind
them that Clinton has not lost yet.

At 10:26 AM 1/31/96, phaedra wrote:
>On Wed, 31 Jan 1996, S. Finer wrote:
>
>> You know Jeff, PBS is a hotbed of pro-government funding of media...it is
>> their rice bowl for pete's sake.  The case they site about Gore has more
>> to do wiith their partisanship, IMHO, than his or the phone companies.
>> Large corportations and executives tend to support the political process
>> in many ways....including contributions to parties and campaigns. Unions
>> do the same thing.  Frankly, it does not bother me very much.  The
>> suspicion seems pretty nit-picky and sour grapes, inasmuch as there is
>> virtually never any quid pro quo in these arrangements.
>
>Difference being how the media itself reports the efforts to control and
>lobby govt officials.
>If unions try to sway government, as in the bitter NAFTA
>debates, the media reports on their "strong arm tactics."
>
>Yet similar corporate efforts to influence government
>legislation are rarely, if ever, referred to in the press in the same
>manner.
>
>Because Frontline is not forced to suck on the corporate teat for its
>funding, it can freely report on corporate activities. It can also report
>on government waste, as in the program about the department of agriculture.



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