October 25, 2002
Reality as Determined by the Rulers
See The Boston Phoenix for a report on another film about the voter fraud of 2000 called "Counting on Democracy," and the refusal of PBS to air the film.Here is PBS's warped logic, according to the Independent Television Service, the licensing entity for PBS: "They [PBS] felt strongly that the program was not journalistic in that it tried to appear to be unbiased by including a Republican, but he was mocked and made to look silly. They felt it was 'full of cheap shots' and the narration was overly simplistic. They felt that 'due to the subject matter,' care needed to be taken to present a more balanced look at the subject matter ‹ even if the show ultimately had a point of view ‹ and that wasnąt the case."
Again, as in the Palast film, stating what happened looks like a smear because what happened is so disgusting. PBS, as part of the establishment, cannot afford to acknowledge the extent of corruption that is now institutionalized. So instead it went with another film called "Who Counts? Election Reform in America" that treats the subject as comedy. This PBS considers "balanced," but others have called "a whitewash."