ANALYSIS : The Private Decisions Behind What’s on Public TV : Documentary: KPBS may end up pleasing no one by trying to please everyone.

In attempting to do the right thing, KPBS-TV (Channel 15) has inadvertently managed to throw lighter fluid on the already blazing controversy surrounding “Stop the Church,” an innocuous 23-minute video chronicling a protest by New York gays against the policies of Cardinal John O’Connor.

When the controversy was at its peak last month, KPBS delayed making a decision on airing the program, prompting demonstrations by local gay activists. It will finally air the documentary tonight at 10 p.m., followed by a live panel discussion and phone-in segment. The video has generated vehement protests by members of the Catholic Church in other parts of the country, and KPBS clearly hopes the discussion will help appease any local Catholics who might be upset.

Instead, the discussion concept has only served to further exacerbate the situation. Local ACT UP member Keith

Ramsey says he is “disappointed” that a representative of ACT UP, the militant group featured in the video, wasn’t invited to participate. And the local diocese, unwilling to give the program further publicity, has refused to send a representative. According to Father Daniel Dillabough, chancellor of the Diocese of San Diego, “you run the danger of the real issue not being addressed, which is Catholic-bashing.”

KPBS’s handling of “Stop the Church” illustrates the precarious position of a public broadcasting station. The hesitation and complex decision-making process that the station went through before it announced how it would handle the program--or whether or not it would even air it--raised much larger issues about the station’s attitude toward controversial programs.

Many view public broadcasting as a forum for ideas without the pressures or special interests of commercial networks. Yet, public broadcasting stations, dependent on financial support from the public, face very real pressures.

In trying to face up to the “Stop the Church” controversy, KPBS has left the impression that it was gauging public response before making decisions, an impression the station denies.

“There is a fine line between assessing the community’s interest and putting your finger to the wind,” said KPBS Director of Communications and Marketing Doug Myrland. “Certainly the fact that there was interest (in “Stop the Church”) had a bearing on our decision to broadcast the program. We hope only to broadcast things people care about.”

In August, the national PBS office pulled “Stop the Church” from its lineup just a few days before it was scheduled to air as part of the “P.O.V.” (“Point of View”) series, announcing that it didn’t meet its “technical quality” standards, and it was “inappropriate . . . because its pervasive tone of ridicule overwhelms its critique of policy.”

Shot in amateurish fashion and clearly meant to represent just one point of view, the program, which includes a Country Joe-style send-up of church traditions, documents ACT UP’s efforts to gain publicity for its anger against the church by staging a protest during Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

A few weeks after PBS pulled the program, Cardinal Roger Mahony urged Catholics to withhold support for Los Angeles public broadcasting station KCET when the station decided to air the program, creating a well-publicized uproar.

After the turmoil in Los Angeles, KPBS hedged. Instead of simply saying whether the station planned to go ahead and air the program, KPBS representatives gave vague answers about the station’s intent, saying things like the tape was unavailable for review and that no decision had been made. They stopped just short of using the political catch-all, “We’re taking it under advisement.”

Spurred by KPBS’s tentative stance, the local chapter of ACT UP started a “phone zap” campaign, flooding the station with calls, and staged a publicity-seeking demonstration in front of the KPBS offices.

KPBS chose the day of the demonstration to announce the scheduled air date for the video, which, right or wrong, left the distinct impression that the station was bowing to pressure from the gay activists.

Myrland now acknowledges that KPBS program director Peggy Cooley had reviewed the show even before it was originally scheduled to air on “P.O.V.” KPBS “never decided not to air it,” he said. But KPBS did “reassess” its views on the show, and management wanted to wait and see how KCET handled it before announcing its intentions.

Like KCET, KPBS has opted for a panel discussion, in order “to be sensitive and responsive to the concerns that may be caused by the video” and to “discuss the issues.”

On Thursday, KPBS couldn’t identify who would be on the panel, but when asked if a representative of ACT UP, the group featured in the video, would be invited, KPBS spokeswoman Pat Finn seemed shocked.

“Goodness no,” she said. “They get the 23-minute video.”

As of Wednesday, the only member of the gay community scheduled to appear on the program, dubbed “Stop the Church: You Decide,” was a representative of Dignity, which is described as a gay Catholic group. Myrland, who will represent KPBS on the panel, said an effort was being made to get a “wide variety of viewpoints” on the show, but he wouldn’t specify whether other members of the gay community had been invited.

The absence of a member of the militant gay community in the discussion suggests that the post-film program may be more a reply to the video than a discussion of the issues raised by it, particularly since Myrland confirmed Thursday that at least one representative of the Catholic community would be on the panel, despite the diocese’s decision not to participate.

“We’re not trying to set up a debate, we’re trying to set up a discussion,” said Myrland. “The discussion has to be partially driven by telephone calls and the participation of viewers.”

All this turmoil over a program that some PBS stations simply aired even after PBS pulled it from the lineup. Ironically, to those stations, “Stop the Church” was not a big deal.

When WGBH in Boston aired it over Labor Day weekend, there was barely a stir, according to Vice President for National Programming Peter McGhee. In San Francisco, KQED received about 400 calls and letters in a protest reportedly organized by the local diocese, but there was hardly a firestorm of protest, and only about 65 people canceled their memberships, according to station spokesman Greg Sherwood.

KCET reportedly lost about $120,000 in donations, but $100,000 of that had been promised by one board member who resigned over the controversy. However, groups such as the National Organization for Women came to the station’s aid, and an extra $65,000 was raised to help offset the losses.

KPBS wants to be “sensitive” and “responsive,” but some wonder just how far KPBS will go to keep the community happy.

Myrland says that KPBS will handle controversial programs case by case, that there is no “boiler plate set of rules.” He pointed at public broadcasting’s record as further evidence that viewers need not worry.

In fact, KPBS has been more willing than many PBS affiliates to air controversial programs, including “Tongues Untied,” the depiction of black homosexuals that stirred up protests earlier this year.

“We are prepared to broadcast programming that is unpopular with the majority of people who watch us. That is part of the business we’re in,” Myrland said.