Naderism

I write to protest the “back of the hand” given to Ralph Nader by your reporter who covered the Conference on the Environment and Television (“Environmentalists Pitch Their Concerns to TV,” by Deborah Caulfield,” June 14).

Apparently Nader is ridiculed because he proposes a television network truly run by the viewers and because he alleged that PBS’ programming is not so operated.

Well, Caulfield is all wet.

PBS is very sensitive to the concerns and desires of the Establishment. National programming is controlled by the Corp. for Public Broadcasting out of Washington, who listens when the politicians speak. In addition, a large chunk of funding does come from mega corporations such as Mobil Oil. Rarely does one bite the hand that feeds it.

The fact of media life in the United States is that, contrary to myth, television usually expresses a fundamentally conservative status-quo perspective in its broadcasting. And this includes PBS.

Thus, I would have enjoyed reading about Nader’s ideas, rather than reading your reporter’s opinion about Nader. . . .

WESLEY J. SMITH

Woodland Hills