‘P.O.V.’ Answers Criticism From Conservatives

Knotting loose ends. . . .

One of the loosest is “P.O.V.,” the PBS documentary series showcasing works of independent filmmakers. Its strong leftist tilt in the political films it airs is acknowledged by just about everyone, including its executive producer, Marc Weiss.

The issue exploded anew last month when KCET Channel 28 aired “Stop the Church,” a volatile documentary capturing AIDS activists viciously berating the Catholic Church in New York. KCET was heavily criticized, particularly by Catholics, for presenting the film after “P.O.V.” withdrew it from the national schedule at the last minute under pressure from PBS.

“Stop the Church” appeared on KCET as part of a wider program about the controversy it had generated. In writing about that evening, I noted that “P.O.V.” had attributed its liberal tint to a near absence of film submissions voicing conservative themes. And I added: “If anyone has evidence to the contrary, let’s hear about it.”

The challenge provoked barely a response. However, here are the few films readers mentioned, followed by Weiss’ replies to charges that “P.O.V.” rejected them because of their politically conservative origins.

* “Nobody Listened.” This is Nestor Almendros’ documentary detailing the terrible human-rights record of Cuba under Fidel Castro. The film did ultimately run on PBS, paired with a Saul Landau documentary much friendlier to Castro. But that was only after “ ‘P.O.V.’ rejected ‘Nobody Listened’ for two years running,” charges David Horowitz, chairman of the conservative media watchdog group Committee on Media Integrity.

“Nobody Listened” was first offered to “P.O.V.” in 1988, Weiss said, when 11 of 12 members of the “P.O.V.” editorial committee rejected it for being “overlong and confusing.”

Weiss said the committee consists of six independent producers or programmers and six representatives from PBS stations. He said he isn’t obligated to follow the committee’s advice, but usually does.

Was he following it when “P.O.V.” originally decided to air “Stop the Church”? The committee “split down the middle” on that film, he said.

After the committee “shot down” the Almendros documentary, Weiss said, he was told by the filmmaker’s associates that Almendros was willing to resubmit it in shortened form. “But when it came back nine months later, it was the same film,” Weiss said. “I showed it to the committee again--some of the members had changed--and this time a couple more wanted to show it.”

However, he said, a list of underwriters for the film supplied to “P.O.V.” included the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-governmental agency created by Congress in 1982 to encourage other nations to adopt democratic principles. To him, Weiss said, this meant that “Nobody Listened” would not qualify as an “independent” film under “P.O.V.” guidelines.

Weiss said he was then told by Almendros’ representatives that the endowment funds were received after the film’s completion and were used only to finance distribution. Thus, its funding would not have disqualified it from “P.O.V.,” Weiss said.

By this time, however, PBS was already going forward with its own plans to package “Nobody Listened” with the Landau film, so the question of “P.O.V.” participation became moot, Weiss said.

Weiss insisted that he had no “political objection” to airing “Nobody Listened” and that he felt its subject was important.

* “The Seductive Illusion” and “The Greenhouse Conspiracy.” Reed Irvine, head of the conservative media watchdog group Accuracy in Media (AIM), contends that “P.O.V.” rejected these documentaries, proving that Weiss “wants no ‘point of view’ which does not match his own leftist bent.”

Weiss claims that neither film was submitted to “P.O.V.,” but he has seen them and says that neither would meet “P.O.V.” guidelines.

A documentary about the collapse of Communism, “The Seductive Illusion” is “sponsored” by AIM, Weiss said, meaning it was commissioned, substantially funded and editorially controlled by AIM. “P.O.V.” accepts only unsponsored works, he said.

“The Greenhouse Conspiracy,” which attacks the global warming theory, is a British film, Weiss said, and “P.O.V.” specifically excludes foreign productions.

* “Television’s Vietnam: The Real Story” and “Television’s Vietnam: The Impact of the Media.” Narrated by Charlton Heston, both severely criticize press coverage of the Vietnam War.

Released in 1982, the first documentary would not qualify for “P.O.V.” because it has already aired nationally on PBS, Weiss said. The second was submitted by AIM, he said, and was rejected because it was also “sponsored” by AIM.

“P.O.V.” is now examining about 500 potential offerings for its 1992-93 season. One or two appear to have have politically conservative themes, Weiss said.

“I would be quite interested,” he said, “in receiving well-made independent films with a conservative perspective.” He stated that in a letter placed in trade and conservative publications in the summer of 1990. Among the approximately 400 submissions to “P.O.V.” that season, however, only three expressed conservative-related themes, Weiss said. Each was rejected.

One, Weiss said, was a 90-minute lecture on the use of firearms in the home by a former police officer, interwoven with re-enactments of various possible scenarios. “A lecture doesn’t make a film,” Weiss said. Another was a film about MIAs that the committee found deficient, Weiss said. The third, from politically liberal filmmakers, let such fringe conservative groups as Posse Comitatus say their piece. “It didn’t measure up to our quality standards,” Weiss said.

Where, as some critics have asked, was quality control when it came to assessing “Stop the Church”? Weiss acknowledges the film’s inelegance, but still defends it on the basis of its raw emotional power, quite apart from the tactics of the AIDS activists it records.

On the other hand, why not have a documentary series on PBS in which perspectives from the right or left can be articulated without rebuttal?

Why not, indeed, Barbara Trent, a filmmaker from the left, might argue.

“Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair,” a widely acclaimed documentary from The Empowerment Project that Trent directed and co-produced, was rejected by “P.O.V.,” she charges, because the filmmakers wouldn’t “change our point of view to make it become their point of view. . . .”

Not true, says Weiss, who claims that “P.O.V.” refused to air the documentary without substantial changes only because it makes charges “for which they (the filmmakers) have absolutely no basis.”

While acknowledging lingering anger on the part of some PBS stations, meanwhile, Weiss said he believes “P.O.V.” will recover from the bitterness over “Stop the Church.” He said PBS has not asked him to tone down the series.

“We need to come back with a strong season,” he said. “I don’t mean something to cram down people’s throats, but something that confirms our identity.”

Just what that identity is, however, remains a subject of dispute.