Did PBS Bury An Expose On Torture?

This spring, PBS's distinguished Frontline series aired a mildly critical account of the lead-up to the Iraq War entitled "Bush's War." As the airing of the program was announced, the Bush Administration proposed to slash public funding for PBS by roughly half for 2009, by 56% for 2010 and eliminating funding entirely for 2011. Did PBS get the message? Perhaps.

On Thursday evening WNET in New York will air an important new documentary by Emmy and Dupont Award winning producer Sherry Jones entitled "Torturing Democracy." It appears on WNET and several other affiliates independently because PBS would not run the show--at least not until President Bush has left office. The show delivers impressively on a promise to "connect the dots in an investigation of interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody that became 'at a minimum, cruel and inhuman treatment and, at worst, torture'" (quoting Alberto Mora, who served as general counsel of the Navy under Donald Rumsfeld, and features in an interview). In one dramatic scene, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage describes being waterboarded as part of a training program he went through before being sent to Vietnam. Did he consider waterboarding to be torture, Armitage was asked? "Absolutely. No question." And he continued, "There is no question in my mind--there's no question in any reasonable human being, that this is torture. I'm ashamed that we're even having this discussion."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[robeson]

Well the show wasn't buried until 2009. Funding could have been resumed with any new President, so 2011 de-funding was nonsense. More seriously than de-funding are the right wing managers that have been place throughout CPB and PBS. They have put a right wing stamp on programming from schedules to content. even a great show like Frontline seems intimidated, look at this omission from Choice.
"Frontline made an omission that strikes at the theme of Choice, political movement. Obama ran away from the Rev. Wright during his campaign, which you highlighted, while at nearly the same time McCain sought out the endorsement of Rev. Hagee, which you never mentioned. The omission jumps out at you because embracing Hagee was a major McCain tactic to reach out to the Christian Right of the Republican Party."
My guess is that right wing overseers through it out.

If Obama is elected these organizations need a thorough house cleaning.

[mykalimba]

I just finished watching all three parts of this program at http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/ and I am sickened by what I saw. The war criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, John Yoo, Alberto Gonzales, Major General Miller, and any other responsible parties need to be held accountable for these heinous actions.

ALL MUST BE TRIED AS WAR CRIMINALS.

[sashimi]

this is not an isolated incident. about a year ago so, the Frontline profiled the ruling class of Saudi family, "the house of Saud" something like that and I don't think it was aired at all, you can't watch it on their website either!. since GWB is BFF with Saudis, finding out what really Saudi family is about could upset some people in White House. I don't donate to PBS anymore, if they want tax payer's money they should do better job than other commercial TVs - by the way you can't believe kind of commercial they run these days. NMA, Boeing, major oil companies... whatever happened to PBS, it's sad.

[Lotto]

I am sorry that PBS has become the whipping post for the Bush Administration but Bill Moyers mention this show on his show. I hope I can pick it up on the web ...God Bless WNET.

[HDR]

Regardless, the attempt to censor this story is as big a story. I wonder if it would be included as an update.

[suec03]

After Bill Moyers announced that "Torturing Democracy" would air on PBS, I checked for it. I emailed KCET Los Angeles. They plan to air it the Saturday evening before election day, November 1.

[Carolab]

I was really alarmed when NOW did that flattering story on Palin and actually interviewed Michelle Bachman for it.

[sxylib]

Another good book, How good people turn evil by Zimbardo

[koyak23]

If you want a detailed expose of our torture program, I recommend that you read Jane Mayer's book, "The Dark Side".

[darthdarcy]

God Bless WNET...!

I'll be sure to watch, Frontline is the best show on Television in America and has been for many years now..!