Fairness on Television

Regarding “ ‘Rage’ Documentary Puts PBS in Its Own Mideast Standoff,” Howard Rosenberg’s July 12 column about “Days of Rage”:

If PBS and public television stations were, as Rosenberg suggested, so afraid of controversy that might offend funding sources and potential donors, why would KCET and most PBS stations have carried a 45-minute Jim Lehrer interview with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat or a half-hour conversation with King Hussein of Jordan earlier this spring?

The real issue surrounding the broadcasting of Jo Franklin-Trout’s film commentary is not an obsession with balance but rather a commitment to fairness.

If any producer creates a program that makes serious claims of illegal behavior against an individual or a group, public television is obliged by its own standards of journalism to give those accused a reasonable opportunity to respond.

Since “Days of Rage” created, as Rosenberg once wrote, “a documentary-length statement without rebuttal,” it was up to PBS and public television stations to be concerned about how to provide for a fair response. Although public television is willing to create an appropriate forum for such a response, it is clear that the film’s producer has felt that effort to be unnecessary.

Public television accepts its obligation to take the heat in matters of public controversy. But to do that responsibly, we must not only demand respect for the intelligence of our viewers but also for their common sense of fairness.

STEPHEN KULCZYCKI

Senior vice president and

station manager, KCET

Los Angeles