Alex Alexiev's Testimony About PBS Censorship of "Islam v. Islamists"

Another producer spoke out in Anchorage, Alaska, about PBS's "barely concealed sympathy for the Islamist point of view."

Alex Alexiev
Comments to Board of Directors
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Anchorage, Alaska
May 7, 2007

Madam Chairwoman, ladies and gentlemen of the CPB board

On behalf of ABG Film Inc., Iíd like to thank President Pat Harrison and the CPB board for this opportunity to present our views with respect to the current controversy regarding our film' Islam vs. Islamists; Voice from the Muslim Center' and hopefully dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding it.

Among such misconceptions for instance, are PBS' continuing claims in written responses to public inquiries that our film is 'still in the production and editing process.' This is simply not true. Our film is completely finished and we have no intention of doing any additional work to it. It has been submitted and rejected by PBS for what we believe are political reasons or ñ as Congressman Jim Walsh has put it succinctly--censorship.

And it was deliberately censored not because it was not finished or did not meet PBS technical standards, but because PBS/WETA did not like its central message. By doing that, PBS/WETA overturned the judgment of CPB, which approved of both
the message of this film and our cinematographic rendition of it, through two years of vigorous Crossroads competition against 440 other projects.

My colleagues Martyn Burke and Frank Gaffney of ABG Films will shortly discuss the process of spiking this movie by PBS in greater detail. I'll just focus on one aspect of it ñ the PBS/WETA treatment or rather mistreatment of the filmís message regarding the struggle for the soul of Islam between moderate Muslims and their radical Islamist co- religionists

What was the message that PBS/WETA did not like? Very simply it is our belief that moderate, anti-Islamist Muslims who believe in the values of democratic society are presently subjected to unprecedented pressure, intimidation and threats by the Islamists- dominated Muslim establishment in America and throughout the West.

Examples of the highly negative attitudes by PBS/WETA producers to the message of our film abound throughout the written critiques we have received from them, but, in the interest of time, Iíll mention only a few of the more telling ones:

• Thus, we have been taken to task for believing that Muslim 'parallel societies' operating according to their own norms as enclaves within Western society are incompatible with the basic ideals of secular democratic society.

• Accused of 'demonizing' Islam by showing the intimidation tactics used by the Islamists against the moderates.

• Asked to provide 'objective clarity' why shariía jurisprudence and 'blood money' settlements are not compatible, and even positive contributions, to the basic norms of democratic society.

• Told that 'extremism and moderation depend on where you stand,' implying that for PBS/WETA officials there is no objective reality to extremism and itís all a matter of opinion. This is exactly what extremists and terrorists have been
arguing.

The expressed attitudes of PBS/WETA toward 'Islam vs. Islamists' betray a barely concealed sympathy for the Islamist point of view, which makes a mockery of their public obligation to fairness.

In conclusion, let me say that this is an attitude that finds a direct and forceful practical expression in the hiring of two individuals with strong Islamist sympathies as advisors to the Crossroads series and commissioning without competition and than airing Robin McNeil's film Muslim Americans which, in our view, is little more than a puff piece for radical Islamist organizations and individuals in America. In both the case of McNeil's film and the Muslim advisors, we have the individuals involved acting as both key referees of what Crossroads films key were to be aired and interested parties in one particular film and point of view. This is a blatant conflict of interest, to say nothing of an egregious violation of the PBS's own much touted goals of fairness, objectivity and transparency in public broadcasting.

Thank you for your attention.