KCET Label on ‘South Africa Now’ Called Unfair : Television: It will be the only program to carry a ‘point of view’ tag. ‘It puts the onus on us to prove that we’re not biased,’ says the producer.

The decision by Los Angeles public-television station KCET to label the news-magazine “South Africa Now” a “point of view” program is unfair because it calls into question the show’s credibility, the program’s producer and community supporters say.

“It puts the onus on us to prove that we’re not biased, and I think that’s unfair,” said producer Danny Schechter, who with partner Rory O’Connor produces “South Africa Now” for Globalvision in New York. “Public television is loaded down with programs that reflect conservative and right-wing perspectives. To my knowledge, not one of them has been labeled ‘point of view’ or ‘commentary’ programs.”

For example, Schechter said, William F. Buckley, host of “Firing Line,” and Louis Rukeyser, host of “Wall Street Week,” present avowedly conservative philosophies on their shows.

Channel 28 spokeswoman Barbara Goen confirmed that “South Africa Now” will be the only program on its schedule to carry the “point of view” label.

KCET’s decision is the latest move in an ongoing controversy over the 2 1/2-year-old program. Station officials drew fire from community groups and members of its own advisory board in October, when vice president Stephen Kulczycki canceled the series, saying it was biased in favor of the African National Congress. Program supporters complained that they would be deprived of one of the few regular sources of information about the lives of black South Africans. Kulczycki changed his mind and decided to keep the series on the air for a six-week trial period, saying that the most recent installment had not shown the favoritism he’d seen earlier.

On Tuesday, the station announced that it would continue broadcasting the program this season, but, beginning this week, it would be labeled a “point of view.” The series airs Sundays at 9 a.m.

“Because ‘South Africa Now’ does not consistently meet KCET standards for fairness and balance in news programming, the station will identify it on the air as a ‘point of view’ program as long as we feel such identification is appropriate,” KCET president William Kobin said in a press release.

The label will appear on the screen at the beginning of each program. Goen said that the station had not yet decided on the precise wording, but she said it would likely identify the point of view expressed on the show as that of Globalvision’s.

David Horowitz, chairman of a conservative media watchdog group called the Committee on Media Integrity, who earlier had claimed credit for bringing the idea that the show was biased to KCET’s attention, said that while he would prefer that “South Africa Now” be taken off the air, it should be labeled if it is broadcast. He said that he had suggested as much in letters and meetings with station executives.

Ron Wilkins, a Los Angeles anti-apartheid activist who has tangled with KCET in the past over “South Africa Now,” said that he thinks KCET is labeling the program in an effort to save face after making public claims that the program was biased.

“It’s not a point of view,” Wilkins said. “KCET is wrong. It’s just news and nothing else.”

“South Africa Now” will be producing new programs until April. The show had been expected to run out of money in January, but last month, supporters, including Bill Cosby, donated enough money to keep it on the air.