Paul Wilczynski's Observations

The Plot Against Sex in America

Frank Rich in the New York Times discusses the fear more and more broadcasters have to discuss - or even mention - anything controversial. Apparently this even applies to certain PBS stations. As Rich notes: "Just three weeks after the election, Channel 13 [in New York] killed a spot for the acclaimed movie "Kinsey," in which Liam Neeson stars as the pioneering Indiana University sex researcher who first let Americans know that nonmarital sex is a national pastime, that women have orgasms too and that masturbation and homosexuality do not lead to insanity. At first WNET said it had killed the spot because it was "too commercial and too provocative" - a tough case to make about a routine pseudo-ad interchangeable with all the other pseudo-ads that run on "commercial-free" PBS. That explanation quickly became inoperative anyway. The "Kinsey" distributor, Fox Searchlight, let the press see an e-mail from a National Public Broadcasting media manager stating that the real problem was "the content of this movie" and "controversial press re: groups speaking out against the movie/subject matter" that might bring "viewer complaints."

Later, he says "Yet even as the "Kinsey" spot was barred in New York, a public radio station in North Carolina, WUNC-FM, told an international women's rights organization based in Chapel Hill that it could not use the phrase "reproductive rights" in an on-air announcement."

If public radio won't stand up for the right of free speech, I have no idea who will.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 8:59 AM