Pointless Point of View

The United States is a signatory to an international agreement aimed at facilitating the circulation of “educational, scientific and cultural” films abroad. Commercial American films typically must pay high import taxes to foreign governments, which are waived for films that are certified as educational by the U.S. Information Agency. If a film fails to get this certification, the foreign taxes effectively limit or even prevent its distribution overseas.

In a suit filed last week in federal district court here, a group of independent film makers charged that the Reagan Administration has been applying a political test in determining which films to certify and which films to refuse. The film makers charge that their films--which deal with such subjects as uranium mining in the United States, the war in Nicaragua and environmental issues--have been denied certification because they have a liberal point of view with which the Administration disagrees.

The U.S. Information Agency, which has declined all comment on the suit or the charges, previously said that it had refused to certify the films in question because they presented a “point of view.” The fact is, however, that the agency has certified other movies with points of view, as long as the point of view was consistent with this Administration’s policies. “Radiation-Naturally,” produced by the Atomic Industrial Board, got a certificate, as did “To Catch a Cloud: A Thoughtful Look at Acid Rain.” But “Save the Planet,” an anti-nuclear documentary, was turned down because it “resurrected traditional U.S. guilt about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but failed to show progress in social thinking and planning of nuclear power since then.”

It’s not surprising that the U.S. Information Agency seeks to promote a certain vision of America overseas. That is its mandate. But it should not insist that everybody else have the same goal and follow the same line. It should apply the law fairly and evenhandedly, and not impose a political test on what should be an administrative procedure.

The film makers are right to protest the unfair treatment received at the hands of the government. Either all documentaries should get the overseas tax breaks or none should. The government should not pass judgment on their content.