Freedom of the press is more of a joke than ever. Although this isn't the first time PBS has been threatened with funding cuts for airing damaging stories of Bush, it is always sad to see the government cracking down on dissenters. Covering up the torture allowed by the current Administration is pertinent to escape any possible war crimes trials. For neo-cons, cutting their funding is a no-brainer and they could care less about how it looks. So PBS saved their own ass by retreating.
From ThinkProgress:
Another reminder of your tax dollars at work....working against you. An informed citizenry is the last thing the President wants and he'll do anything to keep us as ignorant as possible. Hopefully starting in late January, we can start anew with a President that actually cares about a free press. It would be a substantial improvement over the current one that snubs it and the potential successor that once embraced it and now attacks the Fourth Estate on a daily basis.Scott Horton reports today that PBS may have refused to nationally air a controversial documentary on the use of torture by the U.S. government in order to protect its funding. Previously, the Bush administration threatened to cut PBS’s funding after it aired Bush’s War, a Frontline special critical of the war in Iraq:
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. […]
According to producer Sherry Jones, PBS told her that “no time slot could be found for the documentary before January 21, 2009″ — the day after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney leave office.
Watch a clip from Torturing Democracy here.
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