The Left Is Crying Wolf Over ‘South Africa Now’

“Shocking!” comments critic Howard Rosenberg about the recent flap over KCET Channel 28’s decision to cancel “South Africa Now.” And what does he find shocking? The fact that, within days of its decision, KCET management folded under threats from L.A. city councilmen, self-appointed media vigilantes and “community activists,” reversing a programming decision that took a year to make--a feat beyond the wildest dreams of Jesse Helms and his watchdog minions?

No, for Rosenberg this frighteningly effective intrusion of the political left into the area of programming is neither shocking nor a threat to the integrity of public broadcasting. That is because Rosenberg agrees with the vigilantes. Therefore, what in other cases he would see as political interference with artistic freedom, in this case he regards as simple justice.

What is shocking for Rosenberg is that KCET should have even considered removing such an embarrassing, low-grade propaganda effort masquerading as a “news” program in the first place.

And why would KCET management have done such a thing? Might they have concluded that the producers of “South Africa Now” were little more than “solidarity with the ANC” committeemen and that for KCET to air ideological claptrap from the left might be a disservice not only to their viewing public, but even to black South Africans struggling to free themselves from the shackles of apartheid?

No, in the politically jaundiced eyes of Rosenberg, such considerations can only be smoke screens. Only sinister pressure from right-wing apologists for the apartheid state could have prompted such a decision. For, in Rosenberg’s view, “South Africa Now” is irreplaceable: “Unlike the preponderance of reporting on the region, (“South Africa Now”) views not only the nation of South Africa, but also the whole of Southern Africa through black eyes.”

All blacks see alike, and in particular see like the ANC. This is the patronizing attitude that passes for moral wisdom on the left. Of course, like everybody else, Rosenberg has heard that there is a fratricidal conflict going on between blacks in South Africa that has taken nearly a thousand lives since Nelson Mandela was freed. But the ANC party-liners, who produce “South Africa Now,” have assured us that this violence is due to the manipulations of “security police and right-wing death squads,” while Rosenberg ludicrously suggests that it is charges like these that may have been “too bold” for KCET!

As it happens, only a few days ago I was sitting in a cafe in Johannesburg with four members of the executive committee of the Pan African Congress (PAC), including Philemon Tefo who was imprisoned with Mandela in Robben Island for 27 years for his efforts to overthrow the apartheid regime.

Tefo was complaining about the ANC’s current negotiations with the deKlerk government, which the PAC opposes. He said: “If it’s the ANC and Inkatha, it’s the ANC and AZAPO (Steve Biko’s organization) it’s killing. But if it’s the ANC and the government, it’s kissing.” Nor was Philemon Tefo the only black anti-apartheid activist who complained to me about the ANC’s hit men while I was there (there is even a name for them--”comtsotsis,” a contraction for “communist thugs”). Clearly there are more things in South Africa’s heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the left-wing philosophies of Howard Rosenberg and the producers of “South Africa Now.”

The Committee on Media Integrity has no interest in censoring programs on KCET, although it reserves the right to judge them on their merits. (For the record: there was no pressure from our organization on KCET--not even a “letter writing campaign.” There was just civilized dialogue between us and KCET management.) The Committee on Media Integrity is an organization that seeks to promote balance in public television by adding voices that are not now heard. For example, in the area of current affairs documentaries, KCET, in our view, has veered far to the left, to the exclusion of other perspectives.

Part of the problem we have experienced in attempting to redress this imbalance at KCET lies with the only true watchdog of the media in Los Angeles, the Calendar section of The Times itself. Its chief television critic, Howard Rosenberg, is an articulate champion of the cultural left. But that makes him a poor arbiter and/or defender of cultural integrity.

Perhaps the most significant step that could be taken to improve the quality of public television, would be for The Times to balance Rosenberg with a less ideologically committed television critic.