TURKS TAKE PBS TO TASK
By John Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable, NY
April 18 2006
The Turkish ambassador is taking PBS to task for the program, The
Armenian Genocide, which aired Monday on many member stations.
Ambassador Nabi ªensoy complained Tuesday that the show was “blatantly
one-sided” and reflected “a self-serving political agenda by Armenian
American activists.” PBS has said that, while it agrees with most
historians that the genocide is estabished history, it also wanted
to explore questions surrounding the issue.
Although he praised PBS for holding a panel discussion about the
show immediately after its airing, he said the decision to hold the
panel was “in recognition of the strong bias inherent in “The Armenian
Genocide,” and said some stations did not air the panel, attibuting it
to “Armenian American partisans who embarked on a nationwide campaign
to prevent its airing by PBS affiliates.”
A PBS spokeswoman said that an “overwhelming predominance,” or more
than two thirds, of stations aired the panel, which she said is on
par with other optional shows. Stations also have a broadcast window
of a week or two in which to air PBS shows, so others could air it
later in the week.
“The reason for airing the panel,” said spokeswoman Lea Sloan,
“was to shed more light on a very complex issue. We also specifically
wanted to examine how historians have come to such radically diverging
conclusions about the alleged murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the
Turks in 1915.
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