Seen FAIR’s recent alert about Dow’s sponsorship of a PBS series? Want to do something about it? Write to the ombudsman to encourage an investigation. And paste your letter in the comments section below.
Peter Hart
Peter Hart was the activist director of FAIR for 15 years, as well as the co-host of FAIR's radio show CounterSpin. He is now the senior field communications officer for Food & Water Watch.
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Comments
This is what I sent:
“So I’m asking
ACTION: Ask PBS to explain why Dow Chemical Company is permitted to fund a series about issues closely linked to Dow’s business.
We think that the chemical corps, Dow, Monsanto, Dupont and others will be exposed before long, just as the tobacco corps were exposed a couple of decades ago, as the worst health hazards to human life on the planet. (Except possibly:war). Do you really want to be in their corner? Please, PBS, keep your distance from the chemical corps – at ALL costs.
Alexandra Moffat NH”
Mr. Getler:
I learned today of the PBS planned series “America Revealed”, sponsored by Dow Chemical. I respectfully suggest that this is a dreadful mistake on the part of PBS.
PBS statement: “Should a significant number of reasonable viewers conclude that PBS has sold its professionalism and independence to its program funders, whether or not their conclusions are justified, then the entire program service of public television will be suspect and the goal of serving the public will be unachievable.”
I am a reasonable viewer. I have now concluded that PBS has sold its independence. Please convince me I’m wrong.
Don Porter
Is there any doubt remaining that PBS is largely a shameless corporate shill? The underwriter spots long since morphed into ads. Their track record of running questionable right-wing and corporate sponsored content is well established. Aside the corporate documentaries, my local outlet seems to only run infomercials anymore, for stuff like retirement planning, self-help, and diet cures – all thoughtfully narrated by people with books to sell.
PBS, along with NPR, has long since sunk out of sight on my media radar.
Dow Chemical is underwriting this important program and its products are being discussed! I find this totally inappropriate PBS journalism. I contribute and write letters of support to the Congress about the objectivity and great news quality of PBS and this kind of program is not acceptable.
Please take seriously my concerns!
Best regards,
Alexander B Noe Jr
Columbia, SC 29223
Dear Mr. Getler,
it has come to my attention that the PBS program “America Revealed” is sponsored by Dow. This explains the uncritical treatment of genetically modified organisms in the first segment of the program or the uncritical accepting of grain as an unnatural feed for grass consuming cattle. The examples continue in the second episode and probably also in the one airing this week.
Maybe the program should be labeled as ‘Infomercial’ to better reflect the content. Since the episodes are already produced and half have aired, an apology of PBS to its viewers and a public distancing from the show’s content might be the only things that PBS can do to try and adhere to its own sponsorship policy.
I am deeply disappointed and troubled by this, I would expect it from Fox, but I thought PBS was holding itself to higher standards!
Sincerely,
Felix Schweizer
Mr. Michael Getler,
Are you at all serious with your standards? Your program(s) “America Revealed” sponsered by none other than DOW is a four part series that totally promotes the four areas of Dow business. Please explain why Dow Chemical Company is permitted to fund this series about issues that are more than closely linked to Dow’s business model.
Help… Help… Help…
I am concerned having read an article sent to me by FAIR about PBS and Dow. It is so very sad to me because PBS used to uncover stories just
like this and air them for us, about Collusion at the highest levels…
I am afraid that the Koch Brothers money and Dow have exercised a huge and dangerous toll, for their funding on PBS.
This is a very sad testimony, to the power of wealth and its influence on the commons… One day they will have all of the money and all of the power…
Have they really wrested control from you and PBS? Help… Help… Help….
Sad on Monday 4/23/12 … Mike Mobbs
My letter:
PBS should never allow a corporation to influence its programing as with the
DOW sponsored series “America Revealed”.
Perhaps the title should be “PBS Buy-out Revealed”.
As a very long-time PBS supporter I rely on you programs to give me factual information and I now will have to second-guess the content of all your programs.
Dear Michael Getler,
Please explain why Dow Chemical Company is permitted to fund a series about issues closely linked to Dow’s business. The four-part series America Revealed, airing on PBS stations this month, looks at big-picture economic issues, from agriculture to transportation to manufacturing. The series underwriter? The Dow Chemical Company, whose commercial interests closely track the subjects covered in the PBS series.
I understand that PBS policies and guidelines include this language:
“When there exists a clear and direct connection between the interests or products or services of a proposed funder and the subject matter of the program, the proposed funding will be deemed unacceptable regardless of the funder’s actual compliance with the editorial control provisions of this policy.”
“The policy is intended to prohibit any funding arrangement where the primary emphasis of the program is on products or services that are identical or similar to those of the underwriter.”
“Should a significant number of reasonable viewers conclude that PBS has sold its professionalism and independence to its program funders, whether or not their conclusions are justified, then the entire program service of public television will be suspect and the goal of serving the public will be unachievable.”
I am very sad that PBS has been losing sight of its public interest role and has allowed itself to be used by the corporate world.
To the ombudsman:
Your four-part series, “America Revealed,” airing on PBS this month, is underwritten by Dow Chemical.
Isn’t there a “clear and direct connection between the interests or products or services” of Dow and the subject matter of the program? And, according to your underwriting guidelines, should that connection not have rendered Dow’s funding of the program unacceptable?
Isn’t the primary emphasis of the program on “products or services that are identical or similar to those of the underwriter?” And, again, according to your underwriting guidelines, would such emphasis not therefore prohibit funding of the program by Dow?
Given the extremely positive portrayal, in the series’ first episode, of genetically modified organisms, and considering that Dow is one of the genetic seed industry’s dominant players, it seems all too clear that PBS has sold its professionalism and independence to its program funders.
Shame on PBS. What a travesty of “public” broadcasting.
Dear Mr. Getler,
I find it astonishingly insensitive –to put it in the best light– of PBS to accept Dow Chemical Company’s sponsorship of the America Revealed series, especially given the fact that the series’ first segment focused on large-scale agriculture and included a positive framing of Genetically Modified organisms as a welcome “game changer” in the field of agriculture. Dow is one of the dominant corporations in this arena and has a clear-cut stake in a positive framing of GMOs, especially since they are seeking approval for a genetically-modified corn that has been opposed by environmental and health groups because of its toxicity and the likelihood that it will subsequently produce even more resistant weeds. The issue is not that this path for industrial-scale agriculture places the earth in peril –though this is true– but that the PUBLIC television network allowed the corporation with a stake in this product to sponsor a show about GM agriculture. That is outrageous and should prompt many like me to defund public television.
Sincerely,
Edward P. Morgan
Bethlehem, PA 18018
PBS = Fair and balanced.
How ridiculous a public perception you have created.
SAD and I am mad.
Dow Chemical helped make agent orange that was used in Vietnam to poison me and millions of other Vietnam vets. It was also used in Korea near the DMZ in 1968. For PBS to take money from the chemical company that is killing me and my buddies who already have a heavy load is hypocritical. I listen to PBS begging for money every few weeks and now I find they are taking big bucks from the people that are killing me.
Dear Mr. Getler,
PBS is supposed to be by and for the public – not by and serving the interests of Dow Corporation. It’s clear that Dow has overstepped it’s bounds in sponsoring and dictating content in the series “America Revealed” that advocates use of GMOs. PBS should cover all these issues in an honest way, not serve as an informercial for Dow.
My missive:
Hello Michael
This popped in my box today:
https://fair.org/index.php?page=4522
No surprise, course. You folks have been nicked as “the Petroleum Broadcasting Network” for quite some time now.
“Pesticide” fits the bill – and pays it – in this instance.
To allude to your fundraising pitch … just where is “the public in public broadcasting”?
Because it surely isn’t here.
Doug Latimer
Baraboo WI
“America Revealed” really reveals how American (dis)information achieves credibility.
I’m not sure that commercial TV could be more blatantly cynical.
You should be ashamed to let PBS be used to further the Dow agenda, especially when that agenda is so questionable.
Dear Sir,
I just finished watching the first episode (Food Machine) of this new PBS series, and I was horrified. To see this hour long advertisement for Dow Chemical on PBS, which receives a $500 contribution from me annually, was public broadcasting at its worst. Anyone who has read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, could see the blatant attempt to pattern this program after that investigative endeavor, in an attempt to give Food Machine credibility and gravitas. Whether intentionally or by negligence, PBS granted Dow a full hour to show only its side of the picture: fertilizers allowing farmers to triple their acreage output; GMOs as a ‘game changer’ in fighting pests; irrigation allowing deserts and barren plains to be turned in to oases of food production when combined with fertilizers. A Kansas farmer was even shown saying that chemical fertilizers make the soil more fertile, implying that his acres and acres of monoculture corn are actually in better shape today than ever. There was no mention of the ecological disaster that results from diverting water (in California, at least) to irrigate arid land; no mention of the ecological disaster that results from the toxic build up of chemicals in the soil; no mention of the ecological disaster of chemical runoff flowing into streams, rivers, and the ocean. Indeed, one could conclude from this program that nothing but good flows from the addition of chemicals and GMOs to our agricultural system, and from the change from polyculture farming to monoculture. One would never know about the negative economic impact of a farm subsidy system that encourages excessive corn production, which in turn makes those foods which support obesity and malnutrition the cheapest and most prevalent in our society. We do not learn that feeding corn to cows would actually kill them if we didn’t slaughter them before their stomachs exploded. We do not know that farmers who simply want to farm in the way their parents and grandparents did cannot, because grains genetically modified to be weed resistant cross pollinate with their seed corn, which makes those farmers legally unable to continue to save seed.
I am a long time fruit and vegetable gardener, and I know the devastation that can occur, even on my tiny scale, from unchecked pests, from water shortages, and from infertile soil. I have nothing but awe for those people who try their best to put food on our tables. But they aren’t all saints, and all of what they do isn’t saintly. I expect an even handed approach from PBS, showing both miracles and warts. This program was severely lacking and was not worthy of my support. If Dow Chemical approached you with a completed series, you should have said thanks but no thanks. If it approached you with an idea for the series, you still should have said thanks but no thanks. But if you approached Dow with a request for underwriting, then shame on you. There is no place on PBS for industry propaganda. I can get that for free on network television.
Donna DeDiemar
Dow has MURDERED thousands with its cancer causing chemicals ! Dow has devastated Our Planet ! PBS should have nothing to do with DOW; except to expose their destruction and murders !
Here is the email I just sent to the ombudsman of PBS to protest the airing of the series “America Revealed”:
Dear PBS:
When I heard about the America Revealed program it sounded interesting, and I am an avid viewer of PBS, largely with education in mind. But when I tuned in to the first segment on agriculture, I had a vaguely sick feeling. Why was mega agribusiness being presented with a completely positive slant, no objectivity, no presentation of many pros and cons? Only the wonders and marvels of modern big agribusiness. Even the host/narrator touts himself as “even” a past star of Survivor, as if that is a good thing, to recommend him and what he has to say.
The presentation of this program is disturbing to me. I am very concerned not only about my own enlightenment and education about all issues but about the dissemination of information that is truthful, unbiased, and that shows all of the pros and cons.
I feel from what I have seen so far, PBS is highly misguided in airing this program.
I just found out from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) that the program is funded by the Dow Chemical Company. This has enlightened me regarding why I felt I was being given a biased story.
I am very upset by PBS sponsoring this program. I feel it is a disservice to the public who depend on public television.
Sincerely,
Pat Kennedy
Dear Mr. Getler,
It has come to my attention that PBS has taken funding from the Dow Chemical Co. for the series, America Revealed, which highly compromises the credibility of the program and the entire TV network. Almost every industry today has become corrupted once funds are received from commercial industries with interests in the end result. This goes for anything from pharmaceuticals and science to prison and education. As you are probably aware, PBS was created with the intent of servicing the public’s interest and not private business industries. Although our economic times are rough, limits need to be outlined (and adhered to) which determine from whom and how much financial assistance is to be received. I do not regularly watch television because it is muddled with so much mindless garbage. Stations like PBS are a last resort, but with behaviors like this, I can assure you I will not EVER (nor will my children) be partaking in an “educational” program which is funded by corporations. Corporate America has its purpose, but it does NOT belong in education, science, or anything relevant. You will make your own bed with future decisions in how intellectuals view PBS when it becomes nothing more than a mere commercially sponsored tool (i.e., ADVERTISEMENT).
Have a good day,
Paul Ahrens
If’n it walks and talks like a duck, can’t we assume it is just that? How can PBS justify the production of this project with Money from Dow? I am so ashamed to have so blindly supported public television for so long. You were my last hope for fairness and objectivity. How dare you violate the trust so many have placed in you for so long. We are at war for the few remaining bastions of fair was for the public good and here you ate whoring yourself me all the others. Shame on you.
Ken
Dear Ombudsman, I find it quite inappropriate for PBS to be airing a Dow-funded series about interests that are directly connected to Dow’s business interests. In the matter of agriculture, for example, there are many people like myself who would like to see growers move away from the use of the pesticides and herbicides that are poisoning our soils, our people and our planet. The companies that produce and profit from these items can hardly be expected to endorse a complete and disinterested picture of what is going on in our fields and what alternatives could be used. Recent studies have shown that bees are particularly sensitive to some of these products. I would actually like to see a program about bees, their declining numbers and the degree to which we humans are dependent upon them for our food supply — but only if such a program were funded by an insurance company or some other disinterested party. Where but on public broadcasting can we get an honest and complete alternative to what we get on commercial stations?
Sincerely yours,
Helen N. Hanna
How Could PBS allow Dow to underwrite ‘America Revealed’?
This violates your own policies of maintaining a firewall between editorial and advertising (underwriting). The PBS brand is the most trusted source in the U.S. This series being underwritten by Dow and then showing Dow products and their impact on American life in a positive light is very damaging to something very precious to PBS—the public trust.
Bad direction to go in. I hope you pull the series or at least run another ‘America Revealed’ that shows the negative consequences of pesticides, over dependence on the automobile, etc.
Sincerely,
a devoted viewer and frequent supporter of PBS
Susan Schuurman
Albuquerque, NM
I just discovered that PBS is allowing DOW CHEMICAL to fund ‘America Revealed’. I am shocked almost to tears. Is this the only way to get the money for it??
Well, I won’t be watching it. I have trusted PBS for honesty in reporting. This move clearly demonstrates that you have ‘sold out’ to mega-corporations. The show is clearly slanted toward the chemical industry’s favor. I am totally fed up with the years of lies and manipulations. I will not watch any more of it.
Dow Chemical, Monsanto,Dupont, and all the mega-chemical corporations have been poisoning and killing people for years. For shame that you would take their blood stained money. PBS is now on my blacklist, never to trusted again.
Mr. Getler,
PBS has been an institution I’ve trusted and relied on (and supported, however meagerly) for many years to provide me unbiased news reporting and education.
Your airing of “America Revealed”, underwritten by Dow Chemical, seems like a betrayal of that trust and disappoints me profoundly. Please explain to me
and the world exactly how PBS justifies this broadcast.
Very truly yours,
Patricia A. Lawler
Portsmouth, Virginia
Okay, here’s my letter.
‘Dear Ombudsman,
I watch PBS programming on VPT in Vermont and Mountain Lake PBS from Plattsburgh, NY. So tell me, Mr Ombudsman, why is Public Broadcasting Service (“Public” as in non-commercial) airing a Dow-funded series about Dow’s business interests? Seems to me a Dow sponsorship and funding has failed your own “Perception Test.” Also your own “Editorial Control” and “Commercialism” tests. Major Fail on all three. And if “Viewers Like” Us are unhappy with PBS’s decision, you have some major explaining to do. Don’t ignore your responsibilities. Your role is to stand up for the viewers and not become a shill and make excuses for PBS’s intransigence.’
Here’s my letter to the Ombudsperson- Greetings,
As a long time PBS supporter I have often been disturbed by the corporate advertising that goes on on PBS. The recent “America Revealed” funded by DOW Chemical is now the longest commercial ever run on television, basically a series about DOW’s business interests.
This company should not be allowed to push it’s agenda as a so-called “documentary” on the nation. Please explain how this is alright as public broadcasting system programming. This company is responsible for poisoning the nation not to mention other parts of the world such as India. Remember Bohpal? That would make for consumer-focused reporting.
Thank you,
Paula Fischer
Channel 2 tpt watcher
Minneapolis, MN
Mr Getler,
A series currently running on PBS appears to be in violation of longstanding underwriting guidelines and I would like to express my concern.
As PBS was established to, among other things, be a refuge from the kind of influence advertisers sometimes wield over news & public affairs programming, editorial independence is paramount- real and perceived. I fully realize that PBS is operating under tighter budgets and faces unfriendly politicians in the halls of Congress, but it has to operate within a space where no bias exists and no apparent conflict of interest exists. This is an ongoing problem at PBS- notice climate change denier and radial Republican David Koch’s underwriting of NOVA. This former treasure of a program has withered and lost it’s voice for science and in the process become essentially worthless. Mr Koch should have been told no thanks, but feel free to underwrite an arts program like Great Performances, but you are far too politically involved in a partisan way to sponsor a program dealing with science and public affairs.
Now for the subject of my writing- Dow and America Revealed, which seems to cross the line. The very subject matter of the series includes businesses that Dow Chemical is actively in and advocating for in the public and political spaces- not once but in every episode. For example, the positive presentation of the use of GMOs in agriculture (episode 1) is highly controversial, widely opposed by a wide variety of consumer groups and interests and has serious ongoing legal and scientific challenges to it’s very use. Monsanto and Dow are two huge pushers of GMOs and heavily chemical poisoning of the food supply. Today a wide variety of food in the grocery store is clearly labeled that no GMOs are used in the production of this product as the public does not want ‘Frankenfood’ in our bodies or our food supply system.
Farmers that do not use GMO seed are routinely sued by Monsanto and Dow if their GMO frankenfood shows up in another farmer’s crops even if the farmer did nothing to spread it to their crops. In the case of Organic growers the spread of GMO seed actually ruins the marketability of their whole crop, exposes them to lawsuit and can damage a farmer’s business relationships with business parters and customers. The controversial nature of the very existence and use of GMOs is obvious in the growing labeling of foods as not using or including GMOs. Private business would not go to the added expense of auditing supplies for GMOs and exclude them from products if there were not such widespread opposition to their use. Meanwhile the Dow underwritten PBS series presents frankenfoods as a solution to a problem that is actually caused by the heavy use of the kind of chemicals Dow manufactures and sell to farmers. Where is the editorial balance that might eliminate fears of editorial bias and present a fuller story?
I expect better of PBS and those who it contracts to produce content and the laws and rules governing public broadcasting demand it. Public TV is given a huge pass and public subsidy in return for operating in a editorially honest way without the taint of the undue influence of corporate money. This program seems to be exactly the kind of programming the underwriting guidelines are supposed to prevent. The ongoing effect of the Bush Administration’s and Republican Congress’ full frontal attack on public media in the last decade seems to have left PBS heavily scarred and fearful- exactly the opposite of it’s mandate. Instead of embracing the viewers and telling corporate America to take a hike they seem to have cozied up to the Fortune 500 and sold their soul for continued underwriting money. I would rather see PBS go away than see it prostituted like this by monied interests and politically fearful management.
PBS used to use the slogans “TV worth watching” and “TV worth watching is TV worth paying for” and they are true only when the editorial voice is fair, fully researched, properly vetted, honestly presented and free of conflict of interest. Those conditions are not negotiable- nor should they be. It is probably past time that PBS take an open (as in live on-air discussion of options- not off air in Washington) look at reforming it’s financing model and relationship to it’s viewers as the distribution of media has changed radically in the internet age. Either PBS will learn to engage it’s audience while respecting the editorial independence that is a hallmark of public media or it will lose all significant, credibility and ultimately political and financial support. I am tired of seeing an array of Republicans/Conservatives presented as the spectrum of thought on PBS Newshour. I will gladly support an independent PBS with my dollars and my vote, but will not pay for a timid, dishonest broker of paid infomercials from corporate America.
David Gregory
Marion, AR
Dear Mr. Getler,
I am not pleased, not pleased at all, that PBS is airing “America Revealed” with Dow Chemical sponsorship. This arrangement appears to quite clearly violate PBS’ own policy on conflicts of interest, to wit, the perception test and the commercialism test. I would appreciate your explaining explain why Dow Chemical Company is permitted to fund a series about issues closely linked to Dow’s business.
Thank you for your consideration.
Candace Krepel
Milwaukee, WI
Of all things: DOW
PBS knows better than to stoop so low.
Funding is important, but not that important.
PBS should not have a program devoted to technology in agriculture sponsored by DOW. It is a conflict of interest. Anyone can see this with PC statements like this, “As the program explained, the food industry “needed a game changer” in that fight. And it got one: The “genetically modified organism, better known as a GMO.”
Roundup Ready and BT genetically modified crops are not working anymore. The only thing these crops ARE doing are destroying our health, our waterways, our native bees, with other untold and yet unrealized adverse affects. These crops are destroying our planet. Get that program off of my PBS. PBS is being bought just like the rest of the stations.
Dear Mr Getler,
For some time now I have noticed more and more underwriting on PBS that looks more like ads. I regret the deplorable state of funding for public media as I see more and more frequent fundraisers and repeat programming. As a subscriber, I am saddened by this.
I was even more saddened by the piece I just read by a reputable organization, FAIR, commenting on your coming series, America Revealed, sponsored by Dow Chemical. As it touts the highly questionable virtues of GMO seeds, you are spreading what can very justifiably be called misinformation or propaganda about a very serious subject that needs clear and unbiased debate, not a piece that appears to have been designed and written by Dow.
Is it just coincidence that the series covers the same issues that Dow concerns itself with?
It is clear to me that this show fails the test of “perception of influence” and should be cancelled. I can understand the lure of paid programming that will attract viewers in a time when funding is so hard to come by and there is so much air time to fill. That does not excuse the use of clearly slanted and dangerous programming that will lull our senses into thinking everything is great and the future is bright when there is ample evidence that it is not.
Don’t be the opium of the masses! If this series airs, I will have to discontinue my subscription until such a time as I once again have confidence in your integrity.
Trust is quickly lost and very slowly regained.
Regards,
Terry Sullivan
I sent:
Dear Sir,
Your program, America Revealed, is sponsored by Dow Chemical. As noted in the article linked below, the content of this program seems to very closely match the interests of the sponsor. In fact, the subject matter of the four episodes are almost exactly matched to sponsor’s Solutions section of their website: http://www.dow.com/solutions/
This gives the impression that Dow created the format of the series as it does not seem credible that the subject matter of the episodes coincidentally coincided with the content areas of their website. This leads me to wonder what other content related decisions they were allowed to make. I count on PBS as an independent news source, and I find this very troubling.
https://fair.org/index.php?page=4522
Thanks for your attention,
David Evans
I wrote to:
Mr. Michael Getler
PBS “ombudsman”Â
Dear Sir:
It would appear that the PBS series, “America Revealed,” grossly violates PBS’s own underwriting guidelines by allowing Dow Chemical Company to underwrite the series and dictate its content. The first episode’s gross promotion of one of Dow’s biggest business interests, and most ecologically damaging, that is GMO ‘food’ crops, which further distort already unsustainable industrialized “food” production, is the most blatant case of PBS subservience to corporate special interests I could imagine!
Amazingly, the series’ four parts mirror Dow’s four primary business interests, in direct contradiction to the PBS guidelines. More importantly, such alignment of PBS program content with corporate business interests violates the basic mandate of public television.
Remember? PBS was supposed to be a forum for independently produced diverse program content, not a vehicle for corporate propaganda.
Over recent years, the growing creep of sponsor advertising into program time (as distinct from announcements before or after programs are aired simply listing the underwriters) now culminates in direct proffering of corporate propaganda within and as part of program content.
I withdraw all forms of support for PBS until PBS practices come back into alignment with its original mandate and stated underwriting policy.
Most sincerely,
A waning consumer of PBS programming,
Robert Christie
My email to Mr. Getler:
Dear Michael Getler,
I am quite upset by the report about a PBS series supported by Dow Chemical, that purports to report accurately on issues of critical importance to our agriculture, transportation, and electricity needs. As the mother of an organic farmer, I know very well how harmful the effects of GM foods and industrial farming are, not only for the organic farming world, but for our soil, our nutrition and our health! With regards to transportation and electricity, we must find alternatives to our dependency on fossil fuels to serve our common welfare, rather than only the interests of large corporations and fuel industries.
Please communicate my extreme displeasure to those in charge at PBS. I know I am not alone.
Sincerely yours,
Alice Dan
The hidden hand of DOW has shown a vast control over this program. I am saddened over this overt sellout by PBS.
Mr. Getler–
I watched the first episode of “America Revealed,” about our unsustainable modern food system, which could be fairly subtitled “DOW to the Rescue!” as it was a rather undisguised paean to the mega-corporation. Although I’m not surprised, given the current state of PBS and the ongoing, ludicrous right wing campaign against public, educational media, I really wonder how this got through the vetting process of your “Underwriting Guidelines.” Gee, it seems to me GMOs are at least a little tiny bit controversial, no? And that GMO seeds and genetic traits have been proven to migrate, to nobody’s best interest? And that the other mega-chemical corp big in this business (starts with “M”) also has profited from some notably questionable business practices.
This program is an example of PBS and a mega multinational corporation hand-in-hand strolling down the path of “we can keep doing this forever and things will just get better and better!” I really don’t think PBS should be in the business of polishing the reputation of a giant chemical etc. corporation. I’ve just looked at the PBS.org site and see the next three episodes dovetail exactly with the other major commercial areas in which Dow is most heavily involved–just a coincidence, I suppose. Come on! I’ve always supported funding for PBS and let my representative know that, but this is just the kind of thing that made me stop contributing directly to my local affiliate(s)–they don’t need my paltry sum, they’ve got giant corporate sponsors.
Cordially yours,
Matthew R. Clark
El Granada, CA
My comments to PBS: Creeping intrusion of corporate interests into PBS programming has been very disturbing to me. And now the FAIR alert regarding the Dow Chemical Company funded program “America Revealed” being aired on PBS is downright alarming! PBS should hold fast as an impartial investigative body which reports well vetted accurate information to American citizens, not a conduit for supporting corporate interests. If we want corporate or ideological spin, we have ALL the rest of broadcasting outlets to serve that need.
America Revealed on energy was a mixed blessing at best. Good sense of the size and scope of coal mining and gas exploration, but precious little comment on how these contribute to global warming. The Dow slogan “Solutionism, the new Optimism” would please John Dewey, who settled the optimism/pessimism false dichotomy by opting for meliorism (ameliorate the situation as you go). But does America Revealed do that? Hardly. For instance, it passed off solar energy production as expensive and paltry, ignoring the falling costs and accumulating benefits. Yes, the sun goes down. And when it does, it shines on the other side of the world, also capable of using its free, non-polluting, endless gift. Even cloudy Germany has taken advantage of this. Instead of dissing solar when the sun doesn’t shine, why doesn’t the program diss the double waste we usually cause by not using it when it does shine? (We waste it first by warding it off our millions of rooftops, etc., then waste again by replacing it with non-renewable, pollution-creating, expensive carbon-based forms.) Instead of dissing electric solar as expensive, why not mention ancient cities set up for passive solar power, or the value of a sunny window, or the economic boon inherent in the shade of a well-placed tree, or the millions of simple cost-effective solar water heaters already saving and serving? In that Dow and one of the Koch brothers is funding this, why not let FAIR do a deconstruction on how that funding ends up swaying America Revealed to keep using fossil fuels and glibly speeding over those sources that will keep providing ever more clean and renewable power at ever lower prices? Need jobs? Our rooftops, south-facing walls, and electric grid all could be employing multi-thousands to save us from the growing oil/coal-generated disaster. We don’t lack energy in America and the world as much as we lack ways to implement our ethics and ingenuity. America Revealed could do a better job of serving this timely transition.
Dear Mr. Getler,
As a longterm PBS viewer and supporter, I am extremely concerned about the Dow Chemical sponsorship of your series, America Revealed.This represents a clear conflict of interest and a potentially serious blow to PBS’s credibility.As per PBS policy, quoted at fair.org:
“Should a significant number of reasonable viewers conclude that PBS has sold its professionalism and independence to its program funders, whether or not their conclusions are justified, then the entire program service of public television will be suspect and the goal of serving the public will be unachievable.”
How does PBS plan to restore our confidence?
Dear PBS, I was so ashamed of your show about factory farming in America. Up until now, we have trusted PBS to show a whole rounded story. Not so anymore. We live in the Yakima Valley, WA State, where there are between 70-90 factory dairy farms. Our air and water are polluted. We have the highest asthma and diarreha rate in the state. School, town, church and individual wells are polluted. Factory dairies are not good neighbors. Many of them have moved into our area because no pollution laws are enforced here in Yakima County. We had a case of “Mad cow” here at Mabton, WA. It doesn’t just go away. Now the daires are mortality composting where they put their dead cows into manure, compost it and call it organic. You so called documentary was a slap in the face to those of us who are living in the hell created by factory farms.