ANTI-’VIETNAM’ PROGRAM GETS BACKING

The president of the public TV station responsible for the award-winning series “Vietnam: A Television History” said Thursday that he supports the airing of another show on Vietnam produced by a group critical of the media.

“We never intended our Vietnam series to be the final word,” said WGBH president Henry P. Becton. “In general we support the notion of public television being open to different opinions on its programs.”

The two-hour program “Vietnam Op-Ed: An Inside View” will be available to PBS stations beginning June 26. It will include a 57-minute film, “Television’s Vietnam: The Real Story,” created by the media watchdog group Accuracy in Media to respond to the first WGBH series.

The highly acclaimed “Vietnam: A Television History” aired in 13 weekly installments beginning in October, 1983. It won six Emmy awards in the news-documentary category, the George Polk Award and others.

“The AIM program is certainly an attack on the station’s series. It is a misleading program that comes from the far-right perspective,” Becton said.

But, he said, he does not believe PBS management was pressured by the Reagan Administration or leaders of the New Right connected with Accuracy In Media.

“We value our independence too highly,” Becton said.