PUBLIC BROADCASTING MAY HAVE DEATH WISH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000200020126-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 126
• Publication Date: February 21, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For. Release 2007/03/23: CIA-RDP99-00498R00020
ARTICLE
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EDITOR ~c PUBLISHER
01; PAGE
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21 Fear uar.v 1981
Pu b I i r " r n, -if r a st, - L
may Hlave ueath Wish I
WASHINGTON-The Reagan transi.
tion team recommended that budget sup.
port for the Corporation for Public Broad.
casting be phased out. Now it is reported
that a cut of 25% in the CPS budget hat
been proposed. One strong argument in
favor of this is that public broadcasting
has become an expensive way of provid-
ing entertainment to a very small and
generally affluent audience. With the
growth of cable television and what is ex-
pected to be a greatly increased home use
of video tapes and disks, it is argued that
there arenow enough alternatives to regu-
lar commercial television to-make it un-
necessary for the federal government to
pour $175 million or more annually into
public broadcasting.
Helping Our Worst Enemies
However, another factor that may have
influenced the budget cutters is the
strange tendency of Public Broadcasting
to finance propaganda broadcasts for
causes supported by our worst enemies-
the communists. The most egregious ex-
ampleof this was the airing of three hour-
long programs in May 1980 called "On
Company Business." This series featured a
notorious defector from the CIA, Philip
Agee, who is now a proponent of the com-
munist cause and who has dedicated his
timeand talent to trying to destroy the CIA
by exposing as many of its agents as he
can. Not opiy did the film feature Agee,
but the company that produced it was
partly owned by Agee. It was a vicious
attack on American intelligence activities,
unrelieved by, any significant defense of
the CIA or any mention of what the Soviet
KGB is up to. '
The Public Broadcasting Service came
under strong attack for having performed
that significant service for our enemies,
but neither that criticism nor the election
of Ronald Reagan has persuaded it to
change its ways. Perhaps the people who
manage the Public Broadcasting Service
have a death wish. How eke can one ex-
plain their recent action in airing an hour-
By Reed Irvine
long film attacking American policy in El
Salvador that was timed to coincide with
strations, in turn, were supposed to coin-
cide with the"final offensive" of the com-
munist-led and armed rebels in El Salva-
dor. The timing was off a bit because the
offensive, which began on January 10,
quickly fizzled and was over before the
demonstrations began on January 17.
There is something very wrong when
tax-supported public television in this
country can be manipulated to produce
and air programs that are clearly a part of
an anti-American agit-prop operation.
There is certainly a lot to be said for di-
versity on the airwaves. But that doesn't
mean that we have to open up our air-
waves to the propaganda of our enemies,
much less pay for its production. Public
Broadcasting has done this often enough
that it has outraged those who are aware
of its strange behavior. Many will prob-
ably enthusiastically support the budget
cuts that have been suggested.
The Last Straw
The January 22 program, "El Salvador:
Another Vietnam?", may have been the
straw that will break the camel's back.
One thing that both the outgoing Carter
Administration and the incoming Reagan
Administration agreed on was that there is
a concerted communist drive to take over
Central America. El Salvador is currently
the main focus of that drive. Adm. Stans-
field Turner, the director of the CIA under
Jimmy Carter, made this very clear in an.
interview on "60 Minutes" on February 8.
Turner said that the critical thing in Cen-
tral America is "the internationalization
of the revolution" going on down there.
Turner said the Soviets, Libyans and
others were providing the arms and that
they were being funnelled through Cuba. .
He said we were faced with the danger of
Soviet or Cuban dominated regimes in
that area, "a very serious prospect for the
U.S. "
While the government on one hand is
spending millions to keep this from hap-
pening by giving economic and military.
aid to El Salvador, PBS provides $40,000 1
to a group sympathetic to the other side to
produce a film plugging that cause. At
least they should have sent the Will to Mos-