Saturday, November 19, 2005

Why we hardly watch and never support PBS. The left-wing slant of PBS went quite vertical in our view when the McLaughlin Group, which we had watched for many years, adopted Pat Buchanan's isolationist point of view with regard to the Iraq War. Since then, only Tony Blankley from time to time expresses views sympathetic to the Bush Administration, and he is usually shouted down by Eleanor and McLaughlin himself. So we stopped watching that show and anything else on PBS.

Until "The Journal Editorial Report" came on the air. This is a fine show and it has gotten better as the WSJ people who usually populate the panel have become more comfortable with the format. My only criticism is that the precious 25 minutes of air time is too much taken up by video features that are intended to introduce the subject that will then be discussed by the panel. (I think those features are unnecessary.) Carol and I have tried to make it a part of our Friday evening date night and have been mostly successful.

Now the JER is part of the controversy involving the deposed chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ken Tomlinson, a Bush administration appointee who dared to suggest that the Bill Moyers party line might require a little balance.

This led the WSJ to devote all of its "Review & Outlook" space on Thursday to this controversy. The commentary, entitled PBS and Us is worth a read.

This will be the last season for the JER, according to the editorial, for reasons other than this controversy. I will be sad to see it go. Carol and I will just have to spend more time at Publix on Friday nights.

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