[extropy-chat] PBS turns into CSS [was: The Force of Human Freedom]

[Olga Bourlin]

From: "Amara Graps" <Amara.Graps at ifsi.rm.cnr.it>

>> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/map/
>
> Sheesh...!!  Now PBS too??
>
> With  that relentless hammering of fear, how do you folks sleep
> at night, or get out of bed in the morning?

It's worse than that, Amara.  PBS (I now call them CSS, to be uttered with a 
fowl sneer) has recently caved in over the dilemma over imaginary cartoon 
characters' sexual orientations, and pulled their support of some real 
families (e.g., a family that was headed by two lesbian women who are join 
in civil union in Vermont).

Culture Wars Pull Buster Into the Fray
By JULIE SALAMON
Published: January 27, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/arts/television/27bust.html?oref=login

Culture Wars Pull Buster Into the Fray
By JULIE SALAMON
Published: January 27, 2005

Wayne Godwin, chief operating officer of PBS, got a bit tangled as he tried 
to explain the PBS stance on gay characters appearing on children's 
television shows.

"In fairness I would have to say a gay character is not one we would not 
include," he said, and then clarified. "The fact that a character may or may 
not be gay is not a reason why they should or should not be part of this 
series."

Yet on Tuesday PBS decided not to distribute to its roughly 350 PBS stations 
an episode of "Postcards From Buster," which was scheduled for Feb. 2 and 
included lesbian mothers, even though a few days earlier PBS officials, 
among them PBS's president, Pat Mitchell, viewed the episode and called it 
appropriate. That was before Education Secretary Margaret Spellings 
denounced the program, starring Buster Baxter, a cute animated rabbit who 
until now has been known primarily as a close friend of Arthur, the world's 
most famous aardvark. Ms. Spellings said many parents would not want 
children exposed to a lesbian life style.

Buster joined another cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, as a focus 
of the nation's culture wars. SpongeBob was recently attacked by Christian 
groups for being pro-homosexual, though SpongeBob's creator said it was all 
a misinterpretation. Buster's offense was appearing in "Sugartime!," the 
undistributed "Postcards From Buster" show, in which he visits children 
living in Vermont whose parents are a lesbian couple. Civil unions are 
allowed in Vermont.

"Postcards From Buster" is a spinoff of "Arthur" that combines live action 
and animation and went on the air a year ago. In the series, aimed at young 
elementary schoolchildren, Buster travels to 24 different states with his 
father and sends video postcards home.

Buster appears briefly onscreen, but mainly narrates these live-action 
segments, which show real children and how they live. One episode featured a 
family with five children, living in a trailer in Virginia, all sharing one 
room. In another, Buster visits a Mormon family in Utah. He has dropped in 
on fundamentalist Christians and Muslims as well as American Indians and 
Hmong. He has shown the lives of children who have only one parent, and 
those who live with grandparents.

Marc Brown, creator of "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster," said in a 
statement: "I am disappointed by PBS's decision not to distribute the 
'Postcards From Buster' 'Sugartime!' episode to public television stations. 
What we are trying to do in the series is connect kids with other kids by 
reflecting their lives. In some episodes, as in the Vermont one, we are 
validating children who are seldom validated. We believe that 'Postcards 
>From Buster' does this in a very natural way and, as always, from the point 
of view of children."

Jeanne Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the show's producer, WGBH-TV of Boston, 
added, "We feel it's important that we not exclude kids because of what 
their family structure looks like." WGBH plans to broadcast the episode in 
March and offer it to other PBS stations.

Like the grown-ups in most of the episodes, the lesbian mothers in the 
"Sugartime!" segment are mainly background. "The concern really was that 
there's a point where background becomes foreground," Mr. Godwin said. "No 
matter if the parents were intended to be background, with this specific 
item in this particular program they might simply be foreground because of 
press attention to it and parental attention to it."

The question is, does the episode violate the grant under which WGBH 
received federal funds? Mr. Godwin said, "The presence of a couple headed by 
two mothers would not be appropriate curricular purpose that PBS should 
provide."

The grant specifies the programs "should be designed to appeal to all of 
America's children by providing them with content and characters with which 
they can identify." In addition, the grant says, "Diversity will be 
incorporated into the fabric of the series to help children understand and 
respect differences and learn to live in a multicultural society."

Brigid Sullivan, vice president for children's programming at WGBH, has been 
producing children's shows for 20 years, including "Arthur," for many years 
the top-rated children's show. "This asked for a project on diversity to all 
of America's children," she said. "We took it seriously and thought that 
with 'Arthur,' the No. 1 show on television for kids for years, we had 
something to draw kids in.

Buster is Arthur's best friend, the child of divorce, he has asthma. 
Children sympathize with him. We had a breakthrough format, this animated 
bunny with his camera getting live-action sequence. Not to present a 
make-believe world of diversity but a real world."

Explaining the goal of the show, Ms. Sullivan said: "We want to reflect all 
of America's children."

"This is not about their parents," she said.